


Frozen Moonlight

by JaneDrewFinally



Category: Rurouni Kenshin
Genre: (not the same couples), F/M, Fast-Burn, High School AU, Modern AU, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Rated For Violence, Romance, Sarcasm, a modern au, a reaaaaalllly long time ago, and occasional explosions, and the author is overly-caffeinated, now complete! (including epilogue!), oh and also not everybody is human, originally posted on FFN, other characters to be added later, rated for language, rated for occasional sexual content, slow-burn, that seems relevant to mention, the humans are genre savy, where the demons are sexy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-26
Updated: 2020-07-03
Packaged: 2021-03-03 23:07:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 49
Words: 262,434
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24933505
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JaneDrewFinally/pseuds/JaneDrewFinally
Summary: In high school, Kaoru Kamiya escaped from a demon. Five years later, she meets a man who looks awfully familiar...
Relationships: Himura Kenshin/Kamiya Kaoru, Makimachi Misao/Shinomori Aoshi, Sagara Sanosuke/Takani Megumi
Comments: 268
Kudos: 72





	1. Burning Bright

NOTE: Since this was originally posted over on FFN back in (yikes) 2005, a lot has happened- however, the time in which the story is set hasn’t changed (this is mostly relevant when it comes to things like technology).

Disclaimer: I do not own the Kenshingumi; all you lawyers, please don’t sue me. And all you readers, please take note: I don’t own anything I quote.

* * *

Kaoru Kamiya had no idea that the red-haired boy was a demon when she met him, but if anybody had told her, she wouldn’t have been at all surprised.

Moving through the high school courtyard with a feline grace, he maneuvered his way around the chattering cliques and students congregating under the scraggly trees and easily took his place at a table full of slim cheerleaders with perfect blonde highlights and football players proudly showing off their varsity letter jackets. The two girls on either side of him immediately broke off their conversations and turned to face him, practically batting their eyelashes as they both attempted to engage him in conversation. 

_‘Tyger, tyger, burning bright.... in the forests of New East Capitol High...’_

Kaoru grinned to herself slightly at the image, her attention briefly distracted from her book when the boy’s bright hair blazed in the sunlight as he threw back his head and laughed at something one of the jocks had said, and in response, the rest of the group laughed as well. Then she scowled at herself for getting drawn in to the activities of the school’s most popular table.

_‘What can those airheads possibly be saying that is amusing him that much?’_

The new student had only arrived two weeks ago, but his acceptance into the ranks of the school’s most popular students had taken, at most, a half a day. He in turn accepted his sudden popularity with ease and grace, as if it was exactly what was due to him. Kaoru very much doubted that he knew she existed, let alone had any idea what her name was, in spite of the fact that they had two classes together,

 _‘Not to mention the fact that you caused a fire drill in last week’s Home Ec class and the whole school had to be evacuated for an hour and a half,’_ she thought to herself. 

Hmm... on second thought, maybe it was better that as few people as possible associated her with that particular incident.

Once again, she found her attention wandering to the group across the courtyard, in particular the boy, dressed in a dark blue shirt and faded black jeans, who seemed not to notice the slightly chilly spring temperatures. What was it about him? He was never clumsy, or awkward; every movement he made, no matter how small, seemed to be controlled and deliberate. Kaoru had studied kendo in her father’s dojo since practically before she could walk, and could recognize the body- and self-awareness of martial arts training whenever she saw him effortlessly wend his way through the crowds in the halls between classes. His hair was certainly unique, not only in its color, but in the fact that it was long and pulled back into a high ponytail that threw the sharp lines of his somewhat thin face into relief. There was a single scar running down one side of his face, giving his occasional smirk a particularly wicked edge.

Kaoru caught her breath sharply and looked back down at her book in an instant as the boy, seemingly aware of her scrutiny, lifted his head and looked straight at her.

_‘And those eyes....’_

She had never seen—had never imagined—that anybody could have eyes like that, the color of polished amber, that caught the light the same way that his hair did and gave him an air of wildness that was almost palpable.

_‘Dangerous... predatory... and not the standard “teenage boy out to make trouble and get laid” predatory, either...._

__

__

_What is it about this boy?”_

“Battousai!” came a happy cry from a girl just entering the courtyard. She waved and gave a cheerful grin that Kaoru personally found a little too vapid to be flirtatious and headed over to the table, where she pulled proceeded to pull over a chair and position it so that she supplanted the girl sitting to the redhead’s immediate right. He smirked slightly before turning to ask her something that made her giggle shrilly and blush.

 _‘Battou, noun. One of the many,many Japanese words that means sword. Battou, verb. To draw one’s sword, with lethal intent. Sai... hmm.. non-word used to turn something into a nickname in older Japanese, with the connotation of “Lord” or “Master of”...._

_How on earth did someone get a nickname that means “Master of Lethal Sword-drawing”? Did he come up with it himself? Did he just walk into his shiny new school and decide that he needed a shiny new name to go with it?’_

She knew that, while the students flocking around Battousai probably had no idea what they were really saying when they called him by the name he had given them, they did think that it was a cool nickname, especially the way that he tended to say it when he introduced himself. Confident in his self-description, sure of his own identity, slightly mysterious, and evaluating its effect on whoever he was talking to.

_‘Or did somebody else give it to him? What on earth could a boy his age have done to merit a name like that?’_

Just then, the bell rang, indicating that her lunch period was coming to an end, and that Kaoru needed to head back inside.

 _‘Hooray for English class.. dynamic, panoramic English class...’_ she mentally sang to herself as she headed down the halls.

It was her favorite class, along with Science, and she knew that there was a very un-studentlike bounce in her step as she headed down the hall.

The teacher was passionate about her subject, and managed to awaken that same interest in her students. She made grand sweeping gestures while writing on the board, punctuating her statements with lots of exclamation points and enthusiastic hand movements. Several of the students had bets on how long it would take before the chalk flew right out of her hand and hit some unsuspecting student on the head. Again.

There was only one thing that could spoil Kaoru’s good mood as she headed into the classroom, ready for a full period of discussion about gender roles in “Macbeth,” and that was....

A shrill squeal from somewhere behind her had Kaoru wincing, but she refused to turn around. Turning around meant confirming what she already knew, and she preferred to let herself enjoy the delusion that it had been something else, someone other than...

“Ohmygod! I love that new jacket!! It is so cool--- that color is perfect for you, Tiff!”

Tiffany Caroline Burgess. And, right behind her, her number one sycophant and best friend since kindergarten..

“Thanks, Sandee!”

Sandra Davis McMurphy. Both of them perfectly tanned, perfectly blonde, perfectly dressed, and perfectly dreadful.

Kaoru sighed. She supposed it was too much to hope for that they would be skipping class again, after the lecture they’d gotten last time, but wishful thinking often made life so much easier.

She tried to console herself that she could spend the period mentally drawing extremely unflattering comparisons between Tiffany, Sandra, and the Three Weird Sisters... or possibly Lady Macbeth... but, as the two of them swept past her and gave her identical looks that managed to combine scorn with a refusal to acknowledge her very existence, even her powers of sarcastic observation failed.

She knew exactly what it was that they saw when they looked at her.... what everybody in school saw.

Kaoru Kamiya, always wearing clothes from Good Will, or hand-me-downs from her cousin Megumi...granted, they were always very high-quality, and showed a definite flair, but they were never the right colors or cut for Kaoru to look good in, and were always just enough out of style to make it clear that they were not new... 

Kaoru Kamiya, going from class to the library to the dojo, always keeping busy but never spending much time with people... 

Kaoru Kamiya, whose mother’s death had plunged her father into a deep depression from which he had taken years to recover, who had plunged herself determinedly into housework and schoolwork and any other kind of work she could find to try to keep herself busy and make ends meet as her father’s dojo continued to provide the family with a meager income. 

She gave herself a mental slap upside the head in an attempt to snap herself out of the slight funk. _‘Come on, Kaoru; this is high school, the place that makes Dante’s vision of Purgatory look like a stroll through the park. All you need to do is get through it with your sanity reasonably intact and then you’re off to college, where they supposedly keep the idiots under better control, or at least give them nice frat sweatshirts so that they can be easily identified..’_

_‘Why on earth would you expect anybody _here_ to look at you, see something that nobody else can see, and prepare to cue the sweeping romantic theme music while cherubs start throwing rose petals?’_

Fortunately, most of the students in the classroom wanted to be there, or at least didn’t wish that they were somewhere else, so the discussion neither died nor got diverted into an epic description of the manifold wonders of the local mall. Aside from a brief, bored comment from Tiffany—or possibly Sandra; sometimes Kaoru honestly found it hard to tell—about how only freaks and, well, their freaky friends believed in evil witches and demons and stupid stuff like that, things even stayed relatively intellectual.

Kaoru stayed after class to discuss the upcoming essay project with the teacher. She wanted to do something slightly different from the assignment, and needed to make sure that that would be okay. Happy to get permission, she didn’t realize how late it was getting until she looked at her watch in the hallway.

_‘Math! Test! Test, in math, in five minutes, and on the other side of the building! AAAAAHH!’_

As she scampered down the hallway, dodging around her fellow students with practiced ease, Kaoru frantically tried to run over the material on the test one more time. She’d been planning on spending her lunch period studying with Misao, but the girl had been nowhere to be seen, and Kaoru had gotten distracted by her book.

_‘If one panicked high school student leaves Classroom A at approximately 1:45 pm, and travels down a crowded hallway at a rate of...’_

Her arithmetic was suddenly interrupted when she spun round a corner, ran into something surprisingly solid, and found herself staring at a dark blue shirt that she knew she’d seen before.

She exhaled, startled, and glanced up to see extremely amused amber eyes looking down at her. He didn’t say anything, but one corner of his mouth quirked up in a half-grin. He also made no move to get out of her way, simply standing there as if he had all the time in the world.

_‘What on earth is he waiting for? Me to swoon, or blush, or start batting my eyelashes at him? Hello, not a bleached-blonde-cheerleading-fan-fluttering... ok, concentrate; math test! Starting..well, pretty much right now... Ack!’_

“Out of my way, you idiot!” she practically snarled, before ducking around him and heading off down the hallway.

She didn’t turn around, but she could feel his amused stare on the back of her neck all the way down the hall, and even after she turned the corner to where her classroom waited.

The test was actually not as bad as Kaoru had thought it would be, but that didn’t mean she was going to let Misao off unscathed. “Where WERE you, you overly-caffeinated weasel? We were supposed to study! Remember? Not everybody is automatically brilliant at this.” 

To give her credit, Misao had the decency to blush. She fidgeted nervously from one foot to the other and looked down at the floor as she said, “Um.. sorry, Kaoru.. I..um.. guess that I got busy in the library and lost track of time....”

Kaoru fixed her with a gimlet-eyed stare. “Misao. When you say you “got busy in the library,” I really hope that you mean you were doing important research on a new cure for cancer or possibly a way to increase the intellectual capabilities of our football team, and not that you and that boyfriend of yours were doing things that I really don’t want to know about in the stacks again. And please don’t tell me which section you were in; some of us have to do research in there, you know.”

Working from the theory that that the best defense was a good offense, Misao retorted, “Oh, and what on earth was keeping you, young lady? I happen to know that it does not take that long to get from your English class to this side of the building, and you were actually late!”

“Don’t change the subject! Actually, don’t say anything about the previous subject either, but don’t make it sound like I was late because of a boy.”

“Ah. Well, then, why were you late?”

“Um.. well, it was.. because of a boy. I mean, I ran into the new kid in the hall. Literally. And then he wouldn’t get out of my way.”

“Reeeeeaaally...” Misao drawled, her eyes sparking mischeviously.

“Stop. It. Now.” Kaoru warned. She recognized the symptoms, and knew that she had to do something before Misao either started formulating absurd matchmaking plans, or surreptitiously humming, “Kaoru and Battousai, sittin’ in a tree..” whenever she thought it would be most embarassing. “I am not now, nor will I ever be, interested. And he’s too surrounded by perky blondeness to notice anybody outside of his social league, unless it’s for purposes of mockery or otherwise.”

“Hmm.. but maybe he’s looking for a change from all that...”

“Misao, I’m telling you right now; nothing good will come of doing whatever your crazed brain is coming up with right now. It would end up like “Carrie,” except with way more carnage. And you would be first on the list.”

Giving a long-suffering sigh, Misao said, “Ok, ok; fine. But you have to admit, he’s definitely eye candy of the highest magnitude.”

“Yes, fine; he is definitely too sexy for Milan, New York, Japan, and Poughkeepsie, but... there’s something about him that... that I just can’t put my finger on, ok?”

“Oooo.. so, you’re saying that there are things about him that you want to put your fingers on?”

“MISAAOOOO!!!” Several students turned at Kaoru’s enraged shriek, but, seeing that it was just Kaoru chasing Misao around with a murderous look in her eyes and her binder brandished high, quickly shrugged and went back to whatever they’d been doing.

* * *

After school, Kaoru went to her favorite spot in the library, a set of chairs that nobody ever bothered with, where she could spend a couple of hours lost in books before heading back home.  
It was time that she always took just for herself, between school and the rest of her day. She found the book that she had been reading on the shelves and started walking back through the different sections to her secret lair.

_‘Reference section connected to the science; science connected to geography; geography connected to the history; history connected to the... blonde chick draping herself over the red-headed guy.... .Dammit! This is all Misao’s fault for infecting the library with make-out vibes...’_

Fortunately, when Kaoru risked a closer glance, the two teens in front of her were not in fact engaging in a practical demonstration of pages forty to forty-five of the sex-ed textbooks. The blonde... Ashley? Stephanie? Lori? Bertha?... was definitely attempting to plaster herself all over Battousai, her arms winding around his neck as she somehow managed to slink while standing still. However, his expression, rather than lustful, seemed....bored, and his arms were calmly at his sides rather than groping the girl who was pressing herself up against him and clearly deciding whether to go for his neck or his ear.

Kaoru gritted her teeth. This was her turf that these idiots were playing on, and if it hadn’t been library property, she would have attempted to brain them both with her copy of Introduction to the Romantic Poets, Vol. 2. 

Her presence went totally unnoticed by the girl, who was clearly more interested in getting Battousai interested in what she was doing, but Kaoru blinked as her Glare of Death was met with a cool stare from a pair of amber eyes, and the slightest of arm movements that made it look like he was going to attempt to pry off the blonde barnacle and say something.

She really didn’t want to deal with it. With either of them. Turning on one heel, Kaoru fled with a rapid, annoyed half-stomping gait, back to the library check-out. If she couldn’t read here without being disturbed, she was just going to have to go someplace else. A someplace else that would doubtless be full of people, who she didn’t want to deal with at the moment, and noise, which would interrupt her reading.

 _‘Stupid, over-sexed, wears-his-jeans-so-tight-they-must-cut-off-the-circulation-to-his-brain...’_ Part of her own brain was attempting to point out that, really, looked at rationally, there were some positive aspects to the way his jeans fit, but Kaoru ruthlessly stomped on them and told them to go back to wherever they’d come from and leave her to focus on annoyance and poetry.

This situation desparately called for caffeine, and chocolate. Lots of chocolate.

* * *

Curled up in a comfortable, over-sized chair in the corner of the coffeeshop, Kaoru sipped her over-sized latte machiatto with amaretto syrup and prepared to ignore the rest of the world.

_‘Dear, you should not stay so late/ Twilight is not good for maidens; should not loiter in the glen /In the haunts of goblin men...’_

Kaoru’s reading was interrupted by a bright, cheerful voice calling her name, and someone perching on the seat next to her.

“Kaoru! There you are! You’re usually in the library, but now you’re here! Ooo, double-chocolate chip!”

“Umm... Misao? Did they let you have espresso again?”

“Huh?” Misao said, turning her blue-green eyes to blink at her friend as she broke off a large piece of one of the cookies Kaoru had gotten. “No. Well, maybe one. And, um, some of those chocolate-covered coffee beans.”

“Ah,” Kaoru said. There really wasn’t anything else to say; the damage had clearly already been done. Now the only thing to do was to not make any sudden moves. And possibly get a jump start on her math homework.

* * *

When she got back to the house, Kaoru parked her bike next to the garage and followed the sounds of clacking shinai into the training hall. The dojo had been in her father’s family since they’d arrived from Japan, and as Kaoru entered the older part of the complex, she felt the familiar sense of peace, the knowledge of her family’s history in this place.

Her father was just finishing up a class of beginning students, so Kaoru took the time to get into her own practice clothing.

She always enjoyed her sparring practice, and today it was just what she needed to calm herself down, focus, and work off some of her stress.

“Hey, ugly, thought you’d still be at the library!” a voice from behind her rang out.

A slow grin crossed Kaoru’s face. Speaking of ways to relieve stress....

“Well, Yahiko, I figured I could come home early to spar with my very own little brother the week before his first big tournament....”

A slightly panicked expression crossed the boy’s face as he realized that he’d just set himself up for target practice, Karou Kamiya-style. 

As their father came into the room, Kaoru turned to him and said sweetly, “Oh, Dad? Yahiko and I were just going to spar a couple of rounds before dinner, is that ok?”

“Of course!” he replied with a grin. The fact that both of his children had taken to kendo, and showed continuing interest in it, was a great source of pride to their father, and, while he would never pressure them to compete, he was really hoping that Yahiko would make as good a showing as Kaoru had at her first tournaments.

In addition, he was a firm believer in letting siblings work out their stresses and differences on the dojo floor, on the grounds that it would strengthen the bonds between them outside the hall and serve them well later in life. The fact that it was occasionally vastly entertaining to watch was merely a nice side bonus.

“Before you two get started, what do you want on the pizza?” he asked as he headed out of the dojo.

“Pepperoni and green peppers!”

“Sausage, ham, pepperoni, extra cheese, and sausage!”

“You said “sausage” twice, brat!”

“Yeah, well, green peppers are gross!”

“At least I’m getting some vegetables in my diet, unlike some people, who are going to find themselves too heavy to roll their way to the match on Saturday!”

“Ugly!”

“Brat!”

Koshijiro Kamiya shook his head, laughing silently, as he headed into the main part of the house to order the usual for that night’s dinner and, at least for Yahiko, tomorrow’s breakfast as well.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In this chapter I don’t own: “Hooray for Hollywood,” Christina Rosetti’s “Goblin Market,” or any of the works of Dante, Shakespeare, Right Said Fred or William Blake.


	2. Fearful Symmetry

Disclaimer: I do not own the Kenshingumi; all you lawyers, please don’t sue me. And all you readers, please take note: I don’t own anything I quote.

* * *

“KYAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!”

The scream that rent the morning stillness of the Kamiya household was an acknowledged part of the daily routine, as inevitable and expected as the sun rising in the east, or Kaoru’s unfortunate tendency to hit the “Snooze” button on her alarm clock a little too frequently. As usual, it was followed almost immediately by a series of noises that could only be produced by a teenage girl’s frantic struggle to go from asleep to fully dressed in 10.0 seconds.

_‘Shoe...shoe... ok, come on, you stupid thing, I know that you’re here somewhere.... HA! I’ll show you! I’ll wear these instead! I refuse to be defeated by recalcitrant footwear!... Of course, wearing these instead means that I have to find socks, now, doesn’t it?... Hmm...’_

Dashing out into the hallway, black braid swinging behind her, Kaoru yelled out, “DAD! Have you seen.... oops!”

Her urgent question came to an abrupt stop as Kaoru tripped over the laundry basket, and found herself sprawled in the hallway, her fall cushioned by the now completely disorganized contents of the basket.

On the plus side, she now had a clean pair of reasonably matching socks.

Deftly dodging Yahiko as he stumbled out of the bathroom, Kaoru dashed in to finish off her morning preparations. She refused to bother with make-up on general principal, but she was nigh-religious about wearing moisturizer and sunscreen, and she brushed her hair out thoroughly before putting it up into her trademark ponytail.

By the time she got downstairs, Yahiko was happily munching on leftover pizza, having already packed up three slices for his lunch at school.

“Feet! Chair! Off! Now!” Kaoru commanded, matching her words with a smack against his ankles. Before her morning coffee, monosyllables were really all she could manage.

She was in such a rush that she barely had time to pour her coffee and burn the toast, but she managed. Luckily, the weather was sunny again, and a little bit warmer than it had been the day before. 

Kaoru had long-since memorized the best short-cuts for getting to school on days when she was running later than normal, since she had no desire to get detention for being tardy. If she was lucky, she got there slightly before the buses, and just as the students who drove to school were pulling into the parking lot. Of course, that meant that she often had to dodge idiot teenage drivers.

As a matter of fact… Kaoru’s reverie was interrupted by just that, as a line of shiny, sleek cars pulled in, with no regard for possible pedestrians, senior citizens, animals, or cyclists. She swore and muttered under her breath as she hit the brakes, and glared fiercely at the offending vehicles before proceeding on to the bike stands.

As she was chaining up her bike, she could hear the chatter of the group coming in from the parking lot and considered shooting them a series of baleful looks, but decided that it would be about as useful as lecturing to a flock of magpies.

They sounded similar to birds, she thought, all meaningless bright chatter, in high, twittering voices, with one smooth baritone threading through the mix.

She wasn’t even sure what Battousai was saying, but found herself trying to catch his words so that she could figure it out, then mentally rolled her eyes at being distracted by the tone of his voice.

_‘He definitely sounds..more mature than the rest of them; I wonder why....Must have hit puberty awfully early...’_ The image of the composed red-head going through a period where his voice kept cracking at inopportune moments banished her earlier annoyance and made her almost giggle as she turned to head inside for another day of high school.

This time, Misao was waiting for her on her way to lunch, and even managed to look slightly contrite at having missed their study session yesterday. Since she’d brought brownies as part of her apology, Kaoru immediately pronounced her forgiven, and the two of them headed out to grab a table in the corner courtyard.

She thought that she caught a flash of amber eyes as she passed the popular table, but decided that she was going to ignore it.

Unfortunately, Misao’s powers of perception had been heightened by years of experience and possibly also exposure to radioactive chemicals.

“Kaoru! Kaoru, did you see that? He looked right at you!” Misao whispered fiercely, tugging at Kaoru’s jacket in what was clearly supposed to be a subtle sign.

Refusing to be baited by either amber eyes or hyperactive friends, Kaoru sat down with her back firmly turned towards the popular table and hissed, “No, he most certainly did not; you are imagining things, probably due to either too little or too much caffeine.”

“Well, if you say so, Kaoru...” Misao replied laconically “But I find it terribly interesting that you knew exactly which “he” you definitely did not notice when he was not paying any attention to you...”

Kaoru managed to not choke on her milk. Barely. Finally getting herself back under control, she retorted, “That makes no grammatical sense, Misao. Either I didn’t notice when he was paying attention, or I did notice that he wasn’t.” Kaoru wasn’t actually sure that her version made sense either, but when in doubt, try confusion.

The other girl raised her eyebrow and shook her head, her braid waving slightly. “You’re not helping your case here, Kaoru. Either way, one of you was definitely noticing. And that, my friend, is exactly why I...”

“No! No, no, no; I told you no yesterday, and I am telling you no today. Tomorrow, I’m thinking of putting it on a t-shirt.”

“Methinks the lady doth protest too much.” Misao said with a slyness that Kaoru was used to only from her cousin.

Kaoru glared. “I am not protesting too much. There is nothing to protest, because you are not going to do anything for me to protest about. If you’re so impressed by that red-headed idiot’s ridiculously high sex appeal, why don’t you go after him.”

Oh, crap.

“Oh.. reaaaaallllyy...” Misao was practically purring. That was never good. “‘ridiculously high sex appeal,’ Kaoru? I think somebody’s been paying more attention than they’ve been admitting.”

If the wall hadn’t been three feet away, and on the other side of where her friend and tormenter was sitting, Kaoru would have beaten her head against it until she was unconscious. It would have been an improvement to the situation she was currently in.

Running through her mental list of possible blackmail material, Kaoru couldn’t find anything that was damaging enough to head off a determined Misao. There was no help for it; she was going to have to beg.

“Misao. Please. Really, really, really, all kidding and joking aside. Please. Do not plan anything; do not try anything, do not say anything to anybody. Seriously.”

“But…”

“Seriously.”

Misao’s pout was genuine, but she finally acquiesed. “Fine. I will not carry out any matchmaking plans between the two of you.”

“You will not _make_ any matchmaking plans, Misao.”

Rolling her eyes, Misao replied, “O, ye of little faith. I’m not going to do anything, you paranoid racoon. No matter how much I notice the two of you noticing each other when you don’t think anybody is noticing.”

“You are deranged to think that there is anything to notice. And thank you. I want to be able to finish high school without any major disasters taking place, ok? If it makes you feel better, you can take a raincheck on setting me up, for once we’re done with school and out in the real world.”

“Oh, sure, you say that now; just watch, you’re going to meet the perfect guy right away in college and leave me with nothing to set up later. AND you’d do it on purpose; don’t tell me that you wouldn’t.”

“Well, in that case, I transfer my setting-up rights to Yahiko.”

Misao looked skeptical, but whether it was at the odds of Yahiko needing help finding a girl or the odds that even Misao would be able to help him, Kaoru wasn’t sure.

When they went back inside. Kaoru walked on the other side of Misao from the popular table. Not, she told herself, because she was trying to avoid looking at.. anybody... just because it worked out that way.

“So, coffee later on?”

“Sure, Misao, just because the library has now apparently been turned into a field laboratory for practical anatomy...”

“Huh?”

Kaoru sighed. “Nothing. Never mind. Yes, coffee. When?”

“Hmm.....” Misao said, and Kaoru got the feeling the petite girl was about to suggest that they make an immediate caffeine run, rather than heading to class. However, after squinching her eyes in thought, Misao finally said, “I’ve got drama club after school; why don’t you swing by the auditorium afterwards and we’ll head out from there?”

_‘Misao in a place where she’s learning how to be _more_ dramatic.... the world as we know it may be doomed...’_ Kaoru thought, but she said, “Ok.. I’ll just try to find an uncontaminated section of the stacks until then.”

Getting to English class on time was no problem; getting in the door, however, turned out to be more difficult than Kaoru had expected.

Sandra and Tiffany... or possibly Tiffany and Sandra... were talking with two boys who Kaoru identified by their varsity jackets and vacant expressions as jocks, and had decided that standing exactly in the doorway was the ideal compromise between not being late and not really being present.

“So... it’s gonna be tonight, then?”

“Oh, I know; this is gonna be SO cool...”

_‘A: Run the gauntlet?B: Go outside and try to climb in through the window? C: Bludgeon them into unconsciousness with my backpack and hope that they notice?’_

“Alright, everybody; Sandra, Tiffany, take your seats...” Ms Simons said calmly.

_‘or, the ever popular D, saved by the bell... Rats. I was hoping for ‘C’...’_

After school, Kaoru headed to find someplace quiet to study until it was time to meet Misao. She wasn’t happy about sitting in the front section of the library, where she could overhear the questions students asked the reference librarians, but at least she knew that nothing too stomach-turning was going to go on. 

“So, you’re writing a report about euthanasia?”

‘Umm.. yeah, and I thought that I could try, like, comparing them to youth in other parts of the world....”

_‘Except, of course, for the occasional sickening idiocy...’_

* * *

When Kaoru got to the auditorium, drama club was finishing up what appeared to be an improvisational scene involving a flashlight, a policeman’s hat, two feather boas, and a rubber chicken.

She settled into one of the seats to wait, and worked a little bit on preparations for the Shakespeare test the next day.

“Hey Kaoru!” Misao bounced into place next to her, “Enjoy the show?”

Kaoru grinned as she gathered her things. “Two thumbs up! I especially enjoyed the boa-versus-chicken fight.”

“We decided it was the rare feather boa constrictor.”

“Yes, I got that part. Usual place for coffee?”

“Darn straight! I have a World History test on Friday, and I need all the caffeinated assistance I can get!”

“You don’t honestly think we’re going to study at the cafe, do you?”

“Well.. no....”

And, giggling, the two girls went to get their bikes and head off in search of caffeine, chocolate, and other basic food groups.

* * *

Between Yahiko’s breakfast, Yahiko’s lunch, and Yahiko’s afternoon snack, the previous night’s pizza had disappeared, and Kaoru found herself the evening’s designated cook, since her father was teaching class until later that evening, and Yahiko was participating in said class. It was going to be a late dinner as it was, and it made no sense to make everybody wait even later.

_‘Hmm...’_ she thought, considering the contents of the cupboards, the refrigerator, and the dishes she had officially been banned from trying again.

_‘Jackpot!’_ Kaoru sent up a mental thank-you to whichever culinary gods had seen fit to remind their father to buy several family-sized cans of ravioli. Granted, it wasn’t fine dining, but it meant that all she had to do was pull frozen garlic bread out of the freezer, dump the ravioli in a casserole dish, not try to add anything except a sprinkling of Parmesan, and then bake everything at 350 degrees for forty-five minutes while she tossed together some lettuce with contents from one—and only one, she knew from experience—of the bottles of salad dressing in the fridge.

Since the salad was something she could prepare at the last minute.. by which she meant something she could bully Yahiko into doing when he came back in, Kaoru had a nice block of time to study for the Shakespeare test...

.. with the notes that were definitely, unavoidably, not in her backpack.

_‘Ok, ok, don’t panic, don’t panic...not in the backpack, not in another folder, not on the table, I’m sorry, Ms Simons, aliens abducted my Shakespeare notes on the way home from school; can I have a re-take on the mid-term...’_

Taking a deep breath, and trying to concentrate on re-tracing the activities of the day rather than listen to the panicked inner voice babbling about exams (tomorrow) and her grade (forty percent of), Kaoru closed her eyes and tried to picture where she had been the last time her notes had made an appearance.

_‘English class? Well, that’s obvious. Math class? They were safely in my backpack, happily making friends with my other folders. Gym class? Is my locker in bad enough shape to dissolve a full set of notes? No, don’t think so... Library? Well, yes.. I was studying, and then I went to the auditorium and kept studying until Misao defeated the chicken and then I packed up and we... oh, crap.’_

Her notes were in the auditorium. At school. In fact, if she closed her eyes, she could picture her bright blue folder against seats that were some color that used to be burgundy with little grey flecks that she hoped were on purpose.

Kaoru looked at the kitchen clock. It was already starting to get dark out; she could see the moon rising over the trees across the street. If she hurried, she could get back to the school and find some nice janitor to let her into the building, and into the auditorium, and be back here in time for dinner.

Looking at the oven, she raised an eyebrow and pursed her lips in thought. She knew how long it took to get to school and back; she could figure on another ten to twenty minutes to get in, get her notes, and get out, but...

_‘With my luck, it will take me forever to attract somebody’s attention. And then I could come home and find that I’d accidentally burned the building down with some crazy cooking experiment gone wrong..... fire bad; tree pretty... better play it safe...’_

Turning the oven down to 200, Kaoru sighed. Not ideal, but it would work. She could always just turn the temperature way up when she got home in order to make sure the food was ready on time.

_‘Oh, sure, Misao; I’ll wait and take Driver’s Ed with you, it’s only a couple of months...’ What was I thinking? Well, I wasn’t thinking about note-related emergencies, that’s for sure...stupid have-to-have-a-licensed-adult-in-the-car learner’s permit regulations...’_ Kaoru mentally grumbled to herself as she got her bike out of the garage again. 

Putting on her helmet and making sure the headlight worked, she headed back to school. Since it was dark, she stuck to the main route, where the roads were broader and the streetlights were better. 

As she made the turn into the school parking lot, she noted with surprise that there was already a group of cars there, some of which she recognized as belonging to football players. It had become something of a fad for them to get one of the school colors when their parents bought them their first car. She hadn’t thought that any practices ran this late at night.... although, since the zippy little Mazda Tiffany Burgess drove was also there, it looked like it wasn’t just football jocks.

_‘Oh... probably prom committee. Or pep committee. Or the committee for a peppier prom. Good thing I don’t need to go to the gym area...’_

Fortunately, the meeting meant that Kaoru eventually found an open front door. She could hear music off in the distance… odd-sounding music for the janitors to work by, but even odder as a possible prom choice, so she assumed it must be work. It had a kind of work-chant rhythm to it, she supposed, words rising and falling, too far for her to make anything out.

_‘Hmm... try the auditorium doors first, or try to hunt down an unsuspecting janitor? Really don’t feel like running around all over the building looking for somebody... maybe if I’m very lucky, there will be somebody near the auditorium in the first place...’_

In fact, as she headed down the hallway, the music seemed to be coming from the direction of the auditorium anyway, so it seemed like a good choice for various reasons.

Although now the building seemed to be quiet again, so who knew.

Kaoru grinned as she noticed that one of the auditorium doors was propped open, and hurried into the room.

_‘That’s a relief... no need to bother anybody, just dash in, grab my notes, and dash.. back...’_

She blinked.

_‘Well, I can see not wanting to do it while the students are here, but isn’t night an odd time to paint the floor... that... color...’_

Then her brain caught up with what her eyes were trying to tell her.

The lights were on in the front of the room, illuminating the area before the stage. The floor was liberally smeared with a red that put the velvet curtains to shame, although she could see that the bottoms of the curtains were also liberally spotted. 

Well, the parts of the floor that she could still see were smeared with red.

The rest... she suddenly realized that the dark heaps were crumpled forms, in the middle of where the red was thickest, and spreading slowly.

She was sure that she could make out a varsity letter jacket somewhere near the middle of the floor.

At least she could see the arm. Although it didn’t seem to be attached to the rest of the jacket anymore.... 

Her breathing grew short as her nose registered the heavy, coppery scent flooding the auditorium.

_‘What...what...’_ Kaoru’s mind didn’t seem to want to get past “What?” because then it would have to move on to things like “How?” and “Who?” and she really didn’t think that examining those issues too closely would be a good idea

Then a sudden noise from the stage caught her attention, and she froze like a deer in headlights as several scrambling, fleeing figures broke through the curtains, one of them stumbling and falling at the edge of the stage to lie in a moaning heap, the others scattering to the stairs on either side or leaping down in the center, slipping and skidding on the blood-soaked floor.

And behind them.... 

Red hair, pulled high on his head, a sword that dripped onto the edge of the stage, its wicked edge catching the light, and eyes that glowed somehow with amber fire as he reached the edge of the stage and gave a smile that was possibly the cruelest expression she had ever seen.

She couldn’t tell if the fangs she thought she saw were real or imaginary, but that hardly mattered.

Part of her brain registered that he had reached the figure at the edge of the stage, that the moaning had stopped, and that there was now scarlet dripping down the front of the stage in several slow rivulets as he continued, jumping down unconcernedly and landing with completely sure feet in the middle of the expanding pool.

_‘Well... that explains his nickname, doesn’t it...’_ she thought, somewhat dazed, as Battousai lept and spun so quickly all she could register was a flash of red, a glint of silver, and then another splash of crimson against the auditorium wall and floor.

The ones who were left were clearly looking for a way out, but even Kaoru could tell that they weren’t going to make it. They were never going to make it.

She wondered absently if they knew that, or if they were too panicked to realize that they were being taunted., that he was deliberately moving slower than he could, circling around them, his sword flashing in the light as he swung it sharply to send blood flicking across the front row of seats.

There was still a long line of blood running down one hand, and Kaoru felt something twist in her stomach as he brought it up to his mouth and ran his tongue over it to clean it.

The expression in his eyes was a very bad thing to see.

She was sure she hadn’t made a sound; she would have sworn to it; she could have sworn even her heart had gone still, but Battousai suddenly cocked his head and turned from where he had been standing...

And looked straight at her with eyes that shimmered and glowed in the faint light.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author’s Note: Bwa ha ha! 
> 
> In this chapter I don’t own: The original movie version of “Frankenstein,” or that time that Joss Whedon quoted it in the “Graduation, Part II” episode of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.”


	3. Desperate Times

Disclaimer: I do not own the Kenshingumi; all you lawyers, please don’t sue me. And all you readers, please take note: I don’t own anything I quote.

* * *

Kaoru backed out of the auditorium, away from those golden eyes, that flashing sword, away from.....

As she reached the doorway, her foot slipped slightly in a puddle of something she didn’t even want to think about, and then she spun and was running down the hall faster than she’d thought possible. 

And behind her, faintly, she was almost she could hear a steady, even tread, the walk of one who felt no need to hurry because he knew his prey couldn’t escape...

_‘Weapon, weapon... there must be **something** here that I can... recent statistics indicate that at least one of these lockers should have a gun, but I have no idea which, so that’s no help... auto shop classroom.. tire iron? Kind of like a bokken, a little; heavier, but I could... no, I’m not fast enough, and somehow I don’t think that bludgeoning is going to work in this case, I need something that can cut...’ _

The sudden flashback to something that could cut very well indeed disoriented her and she had to fight down the urge to collapse or throw up.

 _‘Come on; flee now, panic later... You know he’s chasing you...or at least he will be once he’s finished.. playing...’_ ‘Kaoru held back a shudder. True, she was certain that most of the occupants of the auditorium had already been dead... well, she was mostly sure...

_‘ Alright, what are my options..._

_Option one: Get out of school, get back on bike, pedal for home as if, well, a demon were after me... Pros: with current adrenaline level, could doubtless reach home and barricade self in in record time. Cons: Even assuming crazed sword-wielding maniac doesn’t just hop into one of the cars they all drove here in and catch me en route, would result in leading him straight home and being too exhausted to fight after frantic ride._

_Option two: Steal one of the cars from parking lot. Pros: faster than biking, could just drive the heck out of town for awhile and get away from all of this... Cons: No confidence in ability to find spare keys, hotwire car, or drive stick shift, and would again possibly be leading crazed swordsman straight to Kamiya family household. Which he could presumably find by looking in the phone book under “K,” if he even knows my name, which he... FOCUS!_

_Option Three: When faced with stronger, faster, and definitely scarier opponent.. control the situation; redirect his energy so that his attack is turned back on him... He thinks he’s going to stalk and catch me, that I’ll be easy to trap... well... let’s see what we can do with that assumption, now, shall we?”_ ‘

As she reached the hallway where the Home Ec classes were located, she paused momentarily and then ran to the middle classroom. Trying to maintain a balance between frantic speed and a desperate need to be quiet, she rummaged through the drawers until she found what she was looking for.

The knife was the longest blade that the classroom had, and she knew from experience that it was kept surprisingly well-sharpened.

Moving swiftly to the teacher’s desk, she pulled out a roll of masking tape and bound the handle of the knife to her wrist, so that the bottom of the blade was even with her palm and she could hide it, while still being able to use it if she bent her hand back and out of the way.

_‘ This is going to hurt like hell to remove, but that will mean I’m alive, which is good, right? Of course right...’_

She swung her arm briefly, testing it, and then nodded to herself. For once, she was glad that Megumi’s jacket was several sizes too large; it meant that she could pull the sleeves down over her wrists and conceal them.

Moving quickly to the cleaning supplies closet in the back of the room, Kaoru went in and perched herself somewhat precariously on a bucket.

_‘If I fall into this stupid bucket.... well, I suppose having him laugh himself to death would work too...’_

Then there was nothing but a long silence, during which Kaoru held very still and tried to think helpless thoughts.

_‘Right.... no danger here; helpless little mouse, all trapped and terrified, la la la...’_

Even in her hyper-alert state, it was a shock when the door opened and she was dragged out of the closet and pushed against the wall in one swift, inhumanly fluid motion.

“Well, well, little bird... I was wondering where you’d flown off to...”

His voice was low, amused, utterly confident. This close to him, she could smell blood and sweat and something wild, something that she couldn’t quite put a name to.

She concentrated very intently on his shirt as he leaned in, his breath ghosting over her neck and hair.

The shock of it made her exhale sharply, and she barely kept herself from looking up to stare at him.

_‘Please, please tell me that there is not a demon sniffing my neck....’_

Battousai seemed not to be in any hurry, his hands clasping her shoulders, one leg braced between hers, as he continued to lean in over her.

“Look at me, little bird... let me see those beautiful eyes...” It was half croon, half command, and it made her want to kick him in the shins.

_‘Damn.. he’s got his legs blocking me so that I can’t just knee him in the groin..... And since when does he know what my eyes look like, anyway, stupid, egotistical, popular.....eep!’_

Her irate musings were cut short by the feeling of fingers running through her hair, gently tugging at the ribbon so that it fluttered down to the floor.

Kaoru bit her lip to stifle a gasp, and then gasped in earnest as her nervous gesture resulted in a thumb sliding briefly over her lower lip. The contact startled her into looking up.....

..... straight into amber eyes which held a mix of emotions she couldn’t begin to deciper...

She could see her own reflection in them, frozen in amber depths, looking pale and startled, her hair tumbling wildly.

And then he smiled, a lazy, wicked smirk that seemed to show far too many teeth for her to be comfortable with, and moved his hand up to caress her cheek.

Without giving herself time to think, Kaoru brought up the hand that held the knife and stabbed, directly into his chest.

He made a surprised sound and staggered away from her, and she followed up with a blind slashing movement towards his throat, desperately trying to ignore the blood spattering across her clothes and face, the horrible choking and gasping noises she could hear him making as he began to collapse in front of her.

Her third swing caught him across the face, leaving a bright line of blood across his cheek, bisecting the scar that had made everybody so curious.

And then he lay on the floor, face down, completely still, and Kaoru stood there, panting and covered in blood.

She wasn’t sure how long it was when a steady dripping noise brought her back to reality.

Looking down, she realized that it was the knife, dripping blood onto the floor in a steady monotone.

The masking tape was a blood-soaked mess, and the sleeve of her jacket wasn’t much better. In fact, the entire jacket was splashed and splattered with blood...

 _‘Megumi’s going to be unhappy.... this used to be one of her favorite jackets…’_ Kaoru thought, her mind refusing to focus on the collapsed, bloody form sprawled across the tiles, or the reasons why the jacket was ruined.

She removed the jacket almost automatically, and pulled the bloody tape from her wrist with a swift, jerking movement.

_‘Ouch, dammit.. I KNEW that that was going to hurt...'_

_'... but that means I’m alive.... and that’s a good thing, right?’_

To be honest, Kaoru wasn’t entirely certain she could answer that question.

Numbly, she took the knife over to the sink, washed it thoroughly, and went to put it back into the drawer.

_‘Cleanliness is next to... to... something important...starts with a ‘g’... can’t even remember a simple proverb, they’re going to kick me out of the nerd’s society...’_

She suddenly realized that she was staring at the shining surface of the blade as it reflected her own bone-white face back at her, and blinked.

There was something that she was forgetting... something to do with shininess, and sharpness, and...

“Swords!” Kaoru yelled, and then jumped at the sound of her own voice.

_’Stupid, stupid; so focused on cleaning the stupid knife that you forgot all about... come on, Kamiya; you’ve seen enough scary ghost stories to know all about possessed demon swords and things that go slash in the night....’_

She had to find that sword, and make sure that she took it home and put it in the safest, shriniest place that she could find. And then she was going to get her crazy grandfather to paste so many anti-demon charms on it that it would look like somebody was protecting a year’s worth of the New York Times.

_‘Now, if I’m very, very, VERY lucky... ah, crap...’ Kaoru gritted her teeth. Of course the logical place for a demon’s sword would be _with_ the demon. ‘What, you were hoping it fell off while he was casually strolling after you in hot pursuit?’_

Forcing herself not to think too much about what she was doing, Kaoru pulled the sword and sheath from Battousai’s belt, then lept back and screeched when her actions caused his body to move slightly.

_‘Eww.eww..ewww...’_

Her hands clenched tightly around the sword hilt. _‘Please don’t be possessed, please don’t be possessed, please don’t be possessed...’_

Relaxing slightly when she didn’t start hearing voices in her head or feel an irresistible pull to draw the sword and start waving it around or making proclamations, Kaoru tried to think if there was anything else she should do.

Looking at the still form on the floor, and thinking back to the mess in the auditorium, Kaoru wondered what the police would think...

And then she bit her lip, her mind working furiously.

_‘The sword isn’t possessed, but that doesn’t mean…’_

Remembering those late-night movies, and all the scary stories she’d heard around the campfire, Kaoru suddenly realized that she could think of only one way—one SURE way—to make certain that the town didn’t end up, say, overrun with pesky mutant carnivore zombies.

She had to burn down the school.

_‘Well, this is definitely not what I planned on doing with my time when I got up this morning.. Let’s see.. if I were something flammable, where would I be...’_

Between the photo development lab and the auto shop classroom, Kaoru managed to get enough chemicals to do truly nasty things to the papers in the home ec classroom wastebaskets and the seats in the auditorium.

 _‘On any other day, the fact that I’m apparently a closet pyromaniac would be kind of disturbing...’_ she thought as she prepared to light the match.

By the time she had figured out a way to carry the sword while riding her bike, there were flames shooting out of the windows, and she could just catch the faint wails of sirens in the distance. 

Good thing that she knew several shortcuts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author’s Note: Kaoru really doesn’t do the damsel in distress thing, does she....
> 
> In this chapter I don’t own: The song “Matchmaker, Matchmaker,” from “Fiddler on the Roof,” and, of course, Kagome Higurashi’s grandfather, who I am kind of borrowing for ofuda-related purposes.


	4. Moving Day

Kaoru looked around the small apartment with a sense of pride.

After years of living in horrible dormitory housing, and dealing with cafeteria food, she was finally on her own.

Although, she had to admit that she would miss the cafeteria food.

Yahiko was struggling up the stairs, trying to carry four boxes at once and clearly two seconds away from not carrying any of them.

“Don’t hurt the chocolate!” Kaoru yelled, sprinting to catch the top box as it started a slow slide downwards. She loved her brother, but occasionally he had no clue about what was important in life.

“Sheesh, ugly, keep your shorts on...” the teen muttered under his breath.

Things probably would have degenerated from there, boxes or no, if it hadn’t been for the cheerful voice yelling up the stairs.

“Hey, missy! Hey, brat—you up there?”

“Up here, Sano!” Kaoru yelled cheerfully. 

Sano had apparently picked up a load of boxes from the moving truck before heading upstairs, and he deposited them, following Kaoru’s directions, before giving her a bear hug.

“Can’t believe you finally got your own place! Once we get all this moved in, I say we go out for dinner and celebrate!”

Kaoru raised one eyebrow and said, “And I suppose that, since you’re so kindly helping out, I should so kindly pay for dinner?”

Sano shrugged. “Well, it would be the polite thing to do...”

Drat, he had a point. Now how to get out of this situation with her wallet reasonably intact?

“Once we’re done, we’ll order a bunch of pizzas, and I’ll hook up the TV and DVD player, ok?”

Happy that there was going to be food, Sano said, “Deal, Missy! Now, what else needs to come up?”

“Um....well, we need to unload the truck, Sano.... By the way, didn’t Megumi come with you?”

“The Fox is downstairs by the truck... said something about being better at supervising than lifting...”

Kaoru grinned. “Well, when you’re down there, tell her to come on up and supervise things up here for a bit!”

“Yeah, but then how’s she gonna admire my muscles when she’s up here instead of down by the truck?” Sano winked. “Will do, Missy; no worries. By the way, I invited another friend to help out—well, he volunteered when I told him I was helping you move. He wasn’t sure when he’d get here, but he said he’d make it when he could.”

“Great! The more people I can cajole, beg, or bribe into hauling boxes and furniture, the better! And, speaking of hauling boxes, what are you doing just standing around shaking your feathers, Rooster-Boy? Get going!”

She shook her head and laughed at his expression as he went down the stairs, then went back to unpacking books and putting them on her shelves.

 _‘Dictionaries... English literature.... American literature....Biology... Cookbooks..... Cookbooks? Huh.....’_ Clearly another “subtle” attempt by Misao to give Kaoru more self-confidence in the kitchen.

She doubted this one would have any more success than the last twenty.

Sighing, Kaoru emptied the box and went down to help carry things up the stairs. With luck, they could get everything unloaded and the van returned and still have time to set up her bed and the futon couch before ordering the pizza.

Sano and Yahiko were engaged in heated debate about the best way to man-handle the couch up the stairs, with Megumi serving as referee and occasional consultant.

“Look, we need to take it apart first, it won’t fit around the stair corner!”

“And I’m saying that if one of us goes up to the balcony, we can lift it up the outside of the building and in through the window!”

“Listen, feathers-for-brains, the only thing that’s going to happen if we try to lift it up the _outside_ of the building is that the couch is going to smash to the ground, and then Kaoru’s gonna hurl _us_ out a window!”

“Gentlemen!” Megumi said, loudly enough to halt the other two mid-brawl. “I think that the options are clear: either we take the couch apart now, or we call Katsu, or wait for Kenshin to show up and all of you together can figure out a way to manhandle it up over the balcony. Kaoru, what do you think?”

“Well... Sano, when did your friend—Kenshin, right?—when did he say that he was planning on showing up?”

“I’m here!” said a voice from somewhere behind Kaoru.

There was something about it that was very familiar, something that touched a chord in her memory that her brain was fairly sure it didn’t want to go anywhere near...

“Kenshin!” Sano called out cheerfully, “Glad you could make it so soon, man! We’re trying to get this couch lifted up to the third floor—care to give us a hand?”

“Well, I knew that this was important.... Hmm.. Sano? I think that the best bet is to take the couch apart and carry it up piece by piece... that’s a very solid frame and we don’t want anything to happen to it.”

Her brain’s efforts not to connect that voice to anything were reaching a fever pitch as Sano said, “Hey! Kenshin, here you are hauling furniture and everything, and you haven’t even met the lovely lady who’s gonna be the one providing the food and beer afterwards! Kenshin, Kaoru; Kaoru, Kenshin...”

She was sure she hadn’t turned around, but suddenly her lovely view of the ground was disrupted by a pair of dark brown leather boots and a pair of black jeans..... 

Kaoru looked up to see bright red hair that threatened to escape from a low ponytail, violet blue eyes with slight hints of amber sparks in their depths, a broad and guileless smile, and a face whose left cheek was marked with a pair of scars, crossing each other...

And fainted dead away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author’s Note: Just when you think you’ve gotten rid of that pesky demon problem... 
> 
> In this chapter I don’t own: Hmm.. not really quoting anything in this chapter. Probably because it’s too short.


	5. Mostly is a Lot Different From All

_‘I was having the strangest dream...’ Kaoru thought as she slowly swam back to consciousness out of the thick blackness that had engulfed her. ‘And Yahiko was there, and Megumi, and Sano needed a new brain, and... and...’_ Thought stopped for a minute as she remembered.

Red hair.

Red hair and scars.

Parts of her brain were fervently arguing that they, personally, would be much happier to just go back into that nice darkness where they didn’t have to think about red hair and the way that blood had dripped through her nightmares for months, years, after that night, the way that he’d looked, hair spread out like a crimson halo, the smell of blood and the way her shoes had _squished_ all the way down the hall and out to her bike....

“Hey, I think she’s awake! Kaoru.. Kaoru, can you hear me?”

Overriding her brain’s disgruntled mutterings, Kaoru blinked her eyes open and found herself looking into Yahiko’s concerned face.

The random thought that her brother must be really concerned if he was actually bothering to use her name floated disconnectedly through her brain as she sat up on what she realized was her now fully-assembled couch.

“Huh.. how’d you guys get the couch up here?” she asked, groggily.

“Sano and Yahiko took it apart and and carried it up the stairs, of course,” Megumi said from the kitchen, where she was putting the finishing touches on a tray with a mug of tea and some shortbread cookies that Kaoru was fairly certain hadn’t been in her things when she’d packed them. “Leave it to you to focus on inconsequential details. Didn’t I _tell_ you to be sure to eat a good breakfast _and_ a decent lunch today? And _don’t_ get me started on the importance of proper hydration!”

“Really; please, don’t get her started,” Sano implored fervently from where he was trying to assemble her stereo system.

_‘Oh.. right..of course.. that’s all it was, Kaoru; lack of water, and trying to count half a cheese sandwich as lunch. Fainting and hallucinations. Or... hallucinations, then fainting. Nothing to worry...’_

“Sano, where did you say these books went again?” a horribly familiar voice said from the general direction of Kaoru’s bedroom.

_‘Oh no...’_

“Hang on, Kenshin; the shelves for those are still in the truck!”

_‘No, it’s not possible...’_

“Ah.. well, I’ll just go get them and bring them up; we really need to get the rest of the furniture up here before we do anything... hey! You’re awake! Welcome back to the land of the living!” His expression was cheerful and friendly, and somehow conveyed the impression that she must have been mistaken when she thought she saw a momentary hint of a wicked smirk before he settled on a slightly aimless grin.

_‘Please, please tell me that a demon was not just in my bedroom...’_

“Kaoru! Are you ok? You’ve gone all green again… hey, Megumi, what’s keeping that tea?”

Kaoru’s shocked, uncomprehending stare was interrupted by the bustle as Megumi efficiently forced the mug into her hands, instructed her to eat some of the shortbread, wrapped her in a blanket Kaoru was fairly certain was part of the furniture padding, and hustled the three males back down to the truck to continue unloading.

She really wasn’t paying that much attention to the taste of the tea, or the cookies, or the various boxes being carried into her new apartment as she lay on the couch. Her brain was having a heated internal discussion about the impossibility of what—of _who_ —she’d just been introduced to, by Sano, who had claimed that Kenshin was an old friend, a really great guy, someone he’d known forever; and of course, that made more sense, there had to be some other logical explanation for why she was suddenly face-to-face with someone she’d... well, killed, before making sure that both he and his victims were very thoroughly cremated.

‘Kaoru? Where do you want this chair?”

“Um... over by the window, thank you.” Kaoru said automatically as she turned and looked straight into a pair of violet blue eyes....

He grinned at her and bowed. An impressive feat, considering that he was carrying a rocking chair.

Megumi, noticing Kaoru’s expression, went back into hover mode and immediately started looking after her patient.

“Kaoru! How are you feeling? Did you drink all of the tea? Here, have another cookie... aren’t they delicious? Kenshin brought them; he made them himself...”

“K—Kenshin made the cookies?” Kaoru said blankly.

“Well, baking’s kind of a hobby of mine,” Kenshin said as he positioned the chair so that Kaoru could curl up and enjoy the view outside of her window. “I’ve always enjoyed it... back in high school, I used to hang out in the Home Ec room for hours, even when school wasn’t in session.”

“Ah,” Kaoru said, weakly, wondering how much more tightly her hand could grasp the handle of her mug before she either broke it or threw the tea across the room.

Megumi ordered her to spend the rest of the afternoon on the couch, relenting only when Kaoru regained enough spirit to glare at her and ask if Megumi really expected her to let “those other idiots” unpack her dishes and other fragile things.

Meanwhile, said idiots, and Kenshin, who Kaoru was trying very hard not to think about for fear her brain would run away screaming (closely followed by the rest of her), finished carrying the rest of the boxes and furniture up into the apartment and were then given a series of efficient orders by Megumi that had Sano assembling, Yahiko unpacking non-breakables, and Kenshin cleaning.

Pausing in the middle of unpacking the utensils, Kaoru was debating whether to rinse off a set of plates to use with the pizza or just go with the standard paper towels when she felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up.

“Do you have any Windex?” His voice was so close that she could feel his breath ghosting across the back of her neck, but when she spun, startled, he was several feet away, to all intents inspecting the box labelled Cleaning Supplies.

“Ah... uh... there should be some Method window cleaner in there... it... it’s blue. In a spray bottle. Which is clear.”

“Uh-huh... got it! Thanks... paper towels?”

Mutely, Kaoru handed him the roll of towels she had set up near the sink. His long fingers brushed against hers briefly, but were gone before she could do more than register the sensation.

“Wish me luck; I’m off to tackle the living room windows!” Kenshin said cheerfully. “Oh.. and Kaoru?”

“Huh?” All things considered, Kaoru felt proud that she’d managed to get out that much of a coherent response.

“Be careful when you unpack those knives; those things can be really dangerous...”

And with that remark, Kenshin headed back into the living room.

* * *

As he left, he smiled to himself. He could practically feel the emotions radiating off of the slim girl in the kitchen, and he was half-expecting one of the kitchen knives to come flying past his ear on his way through the living room doorway.

_He had just been finishing up when he had felt her presence at the door of the auditorium, that bright flicker of energy that he had absent-mindedly noticed on more than one occasion in school._

_He had known who it was without even having to turn around, and he knew that there was no way for her to escape that he couldn’t follow, so he really didn’t see any need to prevent her leaving._

_Besides which, he wasn’t quite done... and he hated to leave a task half-finished..._

_After re-sheathing his sword, he had headed out into the hallways, half-expecting the girl to be in a sobbing, hysterical heap in a corner, or being violently ill in the bathroom. He was surprised to find nothing but an empty hallway, no trace of her anywhere._

_Could she have run back outside? He tried to remember if she had a car or not, and came up with a memory of her locking her bike up in the morning, hair catching the light and blue eyes sparkling as she turned to respond to something somebody said to her._

_She had startlingly lovely eyes, he recalled..._

_Catching a faint hint of her presence, almost something lingering in the air, he headed down the hallway, smirking to himself._

_He **did** enjoy it when they tried to run..._

_As he went further along the hallways, he found that she had covered an impressive amount of distance. Even assuming that she was flying in blind panic, she was doing better than many others he could remember._

_As he turned down the corridor that led to the home economics classrooms, he could catch the faint scent of her, jasmine and something else that he remembered noticing when she’d run into him in the hallway._

_He grinned as he remembered how she’d looked at him, glaring, her eyes practically flashing sparks as she growled at him to get out of her way before she continued down the hall, clearly unaware of the way her rapid, annoyed gait did things to her hips that had him staring after her appreciatively._

_At the time, he’d been interrupted by another pair of vapid blonde cheerleaders, who had had to speak with him about who knows what, and he hadn’t exactly been able to ask them about the girl, but he had definitely remembered...._

_Opening the door to the classroom, he gave a cheerful, anticipatory smirk._

_He was looking forward to getting to know this little bird better...._

* * *

“Sanosuke!! Get that down from there this instant!”

“Oh, come on, Missy—it’s perfect! Look, you have the big speakers in the back, and then I put these up on the wall, and, presto! Surround sound! It’ll be great!”

“I am not having speakers bolted to my walls, Sano. You want to perform wacky experiments with sound systems, do it in your own apartment.”

Megumi paled slightly at that comment and said “I don’t think that Sano’s rental agreement allows him to fasten things to the walls...” in a hopeful tone.

Kaoru’s glaring session was interrupted by Yahiko’s bounding out of the bathroom and enthusiastically voted in favor of the speaker project, clearly envisioning long afternoons sprawled on his sister’s couch watching kung fu movies at full volume.

Clearly envisioning the same thing, Kaoru’s protests reached new limits of both volume and vocabulary, concluding with “... and if you think for one SECOND that you’re going to bolt ANYTHING to the walls that Misao and I spent TWO WEEKS painting, you overgrown chicken, then you can take that wrench and shove it...”

“Now, now; I’m sure that there’s a better way to arrange all of these speakers...” a calm voice spoke up. Kenshin stood in the kitchen doorway, leaning against it and looking perfectly comfortable.

Kaoru, who had by sheer force of will forgotten he was even in the apartment, managed not to shriek, jump, or throw anything. She was really quite proud of herself, all things considered.

Although on second thought, she could think of several things that she would have liked to throw, if she could only have figured out a way to accidentally pick them up.

Kenshin strode casually into the living room and continued, “What about putting two of them under the end tables, and the other two in the corners on either side of the TV? You don’t have to attach them to anything, and Kaoru can move them anytime she wants.”

Sano and Yahiko looked at each other and grinned identical, manic grins.

Kaoru groaned as both of them started trying to figure out the best way to arrange the speakers on the floor to ensure maximum lounging space and ear damage. 

_‘Stupid perfectly reasonable suggestions,’_ she thought grumpily. 

Giving Megumi a sympathetic look, Kaoru went to go look for her DVD collection. It was getting to be time to order the pizza, and if she hurried, she could pick out a film and place the order before either Sano or Yahiko could contribute to the list of toppings. Sano’s preference for anchovies had been the cause of some near-legendary fights in the past, and she really didn’t want to risk the damage to her new apartment.

Holding the box of discs, Kaoru quietly snuck over to where Megumi was putting her collection of photographs on their proper shelves and said, “Hey, Megumi, why don’t you pick a movie while I go order the pizza?”

The other girl glanced over to where Sano and Yahiko were engaged in a heated debate about acoustics and coffee tables, and gave a foxlike grin. “That sounds like a fabulous idea, Kaoru.. I don’t know about you, but I feel in the mood for something... epic. That speaker set-up is made for swelling romantic theme music, don’t you agree?”

“Absolutely!” The two of them shared identical expressions, and Kaoru felt a brief— _very_ brief-- moment of pity for the boys. The movie issue having been settled, she headed into the kitchen to take care of the dinner order.

_‘Two extra-large peperoni and extra cheese; Italian sausage, onions, and green peppers; ignore Megumi’s request for a salad on the grounds that she doesn’t let herself eat enough fun junk food... chicken barbecue? Hmm... no, better go with mushrooms and ham. Three orders of cheese sticks, two bottles of Coke... and a partridge in a pear tree...’_

This time, when she felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up, Kaoru resolutely ignored it and went on with placing the order.

When she turned around, Kenshin was perched on one of the counters, calmly watching her as she glared at him and hung up the phone.

“Aren’t you going to help with the massive sound project currently going on in my living room?” she asked “And get off my counter! Who knows when the last time was that those pants got washed?”

“What about me makes you think I don’t do my laundry regularly?” he returned, smoothly dismounting to stand on the floor in front of her.

 _‘Rats... I knew I should have gotten the apartment with the larger kitchen...’_ Kaoru thought, but she said, “Thank you _so_ much for your _terribly_ helpful suggestion about the speakers; I think it’s going to make the movie _so_ much more entertaining to watch.” Her tone was several notches closer to simpering than normal, and she was strongly tempted to bat her eyelashes.

“Of course,” she continued sweetly, “you do realize that Megumi’s going to kill you? The only thing that’s been preventing Sano from turning his entire living room into a wall of speakers has been the issue of boring holes in the wall, and now you’ve given him a way around it.”

Kenshin was suddenly standing very, very close, even after she’d taken an instinctive half-step backwards, and Kaoru looked up, startled, into definitely amber eyes as he said, softly, “Oh.. I’m not at all concerned about _Megumi_ trying to kill me...”

The moment of… whatever it was... was instantly diffused by Sano’s walking into the kitchen to announce that their grand speaker project had been completed and to drop broad hints that it had been hard work, deserving of beer.

“In the fridge. Unless you drank it all while hauling boxes. And, no, I did not order more beer with the pizza. If you want it, you’ll have to get it yourself.”

On anybody else, the expression would have been a pout. “You already ordered? What’dja get for toppings? And why didn’t you order more beer?”

“Various toppings and because you’re the only one who drinks it and I refuse to have extra beer just lurking in my fridge, calling your name and forcing you to come over and lounge on my couch.”

‘And listening to the fabulous surround sound that you’ve now got in your living room!” Sano declared as he headed to the fridge. “Hey, Kenshin, you want a beer?”

“No, that’s ok... I’m fine,” Kenshin replied, and Kaoru felt a brief shiver of something as she realized that his eyes were once again somewhere between indigo and violet.

 _‘How does he bloody do that?’_ she thought absently as she hunted down her pack of paper plates and a roll of paper towels.

As she brought the supplies into the living room, she faintly registered a, “Hey! Did you remember the anchovies?” but ignored it, as usual.

Megumi was amusing herself by loudly musing which of several Jane Austen movies would make the perfect ending to a long day of hauling and organizing while Yahiko sputtered and fidgeted and looked like he was going to jump out of his skin.

It was enough to make Kaoru wish that she had popcorn. 

By the time the pizza had arrived, Kaoru had made an executive decision that they were going to watch “The Princess Bride,” with the standard stipulation that if Sano showed any signs of trying to rhyme things, the movie would immediately be switched to either “An Affair to Remember” or anything with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan.

The pizza and Coke were set up on the coffee table, Yahiko took his customary position of sprawling on the floor, and Sano and Megumi took up part of the couch. Kaoru was trying to figure out a way to let Kenshin sit down first so that she could sit somewhere else, but was having trouble putting her plan into action because Kenshin was casually refusing to sit down.

 _‘Dammit.. what is this, some kind of wacky musical-chairs-in-reverse? Ok... if I sit on the couch, there will be enough room for him to sit next to me... unless I can telepathically convince Sano to stretch out.. in which case there won’t even be room for me on the couch. If I sit on the floor in front of the couch, he’s either going to end up behind me or next to me, and Yahiko’s head will be in my way during the movie.’_ Her eyes fell on the rocking chair that Kenshin had positioned earlier in the day and she barely restrained from a yell of triumph. _‘Hah! Perfect! Hoisted by his own... um.. hoisting of things!’_

Kaoru moved the chair over so that it was next to the couch— specifically next to that part of the couch where Sano and Megumi were already sitting, and proceeded to sit down, wrapping a blanket around herself for good measure. Then, realizing that the cocooning was going to interfere with the eating, she relinquished the blanket and proceeded to dive in to the joys of pizza, caffeinated beverages, true love, and great fight scenes.

However, she rapidly realized that she was paying almost no attention to the movie. Instead, her brain was finally taking the time to analyze the events of the day and try to come to grips with them in a way which did not involve screaming hysteria.

_‘Somehow, I don’t think jumping up and down and yelling, “Agh! Demon! Demon! Evil! Very, very bad!” would be at all convincing...’_

So. Battousai had come back. Well, he was using a different name, and his eyes were doing funny color-change things, but it was definitely him. Except that it couldn’t be him, because he was dead. And cremated.

_‘See, if I’d only watched “Highlander” by the time I got to high school and picked up handy tips for disposing of pesky supernatural beings,, this would probably not be an issue right now. This is what I get for focusing on Shakespeare and Dante and ignoring valuable pop culture knowledge......’_

_‘What on earth could he want from me? Why did he show up and help move my furniture, rather than just dropping by one dark and stormy night and muttering threatening things through the door? What possessed him to make friends with ¬_Sano_, of all people? And why is there now a demon sitting and eating pizza in my new living room, instead of, say, trying to kill us all in nasty ways? Not that I want him to try anything like that, but I don’t understand what’s going on, and it’s starting to make me seriously cranky.’_

“Aw, man, look; isn’t this an awesome scene?”

“Yeah, Yahiko—I know what you mean.” Sano replied, then stopped as Megumi and Kaoru fixed him with simultaneous Glares of Death. He blinked, and then said, “No, no, no; that was an accident! I didn’t mean it! Honestly!”

“Sanosuke Sagara, you have been warned. There will be no, I repeat, NO further warnings,” Kaoru said sternly, and turned back to watch two non-left-handed men fight a clifftop duel.

There was something jumping up and down trying to get her attention, but she just couldn’t quite put her finger on it... 

“This is pretty good sword-fighting for Hollywood,” Kenshin observed from his perch on the other end of the couch.

_Swordfighting...._

Yahiko, momentarily distracted from the movie, turned and asked eagerly, “You know something about swordfighting? That is so cool!”

_Master of Lethal..._

“Do you ever fence, or anything like that?”

_Swords..._

“Well... I used to, but it’s been several years since I’ve had any opportunities to do.... anything like _that...”_

_‘Oh, crap....’_

* * *

Kenshin actually was enjoying watching the movie. Among other things. And, when he wasn’t watching, he was remembering....

_The classroom had been dark, the only light from the moon—or more likely, the parking lights—shining in through the window._

_He didn’t mind the darkness. He could still sense her presence, that steady, clear light, slightly dimmed with the effort she was making to keep quiet, to stay still._

_Making no noise at all, he strolled to the back of the room, to what seemed to be a small closet, and grinned to himself. It was a good attempt; really, it was. However, in the end, it hadn’t helped._

_It never did._

_Almost casually, he pulled open the door. She wasn’t looking at the door. she was... sitting on a bucket? Well... that was... different... although he personally thought it would have made more sense to flip the bucket over first..._

_Her arms were wrapped around her, the long sleeves of her jacket pulled down over her hands, her long, dark hair falling forward into her face._

_He pulled her out between one breath and the next, pushed her up against a convenient wall and leaned in._

_He expected to smell fear, panic, sheer terror... all the usual emotions humans exhibited when they were in this kind of situation..._

_Instead, he smelled jasmine, and something else, sweet and clean, something that had him leaning in closer almost without thinking about it._

_He realized, suddenly, that he wanted to see if her eyes were as brilliant in the moonlight as they had been when they’d shone in the sun..._

_“Look at me, little bird... let me see those beautiful eyes...”_

_She wouldn’t look at him. Not even a nervous glance upwards; just that steady gaze at his shirt. He still couldn’t sense any fear in her, just a kind of tension, or waiting for something._

_Intriguing...._

_There were rules about this kind of situation. He knew that. In fact, he’d suggested some of them._

_On the other hand.... sometimes rules were made to be ignored..._

_Giving in to an impulse he’d had since he’d seen her, he reached up and ran his fingers through her hair, enjoying the smoothness of it, the heavy, scented silk sliding through his fingers. It was almost automatic to reach up and pull the ribbon binding it loose with a simple flick of his fingers._

_Her hair tumbled down around her shoulders as the ribbon fluttered to the floor. She made a sound that wanted to be a gasp, but stopped it by biting down slightly on her lower lip._

_His attention drawn by the slight noise, he looked down, captivated by the way her teeth flashed briefly, pulling her lip slightly into her mouth before releasing it, the first gesture of nervousness he’d seen from her. He could still see the faint impression of her teeth, and moved his thumb over the almost invisible bite mark, feeling her warmth, the faint catch in her breath._

_Then she looked up at him, deep, clear blue eyes meeting his in surprise, looking huge and startled in the light coming in through the window._

_He’d been right, he thought; her eyes were just as startlingly lovely at night... and with the way her hair was tumbling down in a thick, dark mass, showing off the pale length of her neck and the faint flush in her cheeks..._

_‘Oh yes...’ he thought as he reached up to run his hand down the smoothness of her cheek, ‘Some things are definitely worth breaking the rules...’_

_And then the sudden spark of determination in her eyes that he couldn’t identify, until the shocking, stabbing pain in his chest and then his throat, the sensation of choking and drowning, and falling to the floor, feeling a third sting across his cheek, and seeing the mix of shock and trauma and determination etched on Kaoru’s face as she stood there, holding a knife that dripped onto the floor he was collapsing towards..._

By the time they had gotten to the Fire Swamp, Kaoru found herself heartily wishing that a pack of R.O.U.S.s would ambush Kenshin on his way out to the parking lot. 

He was being perfectly charming, and she hated it.

He thanked her for the pizza, gave Megumi his shortbread recipe during a brief break to bring out dessert, and let Sano finish off all of the beer.

The only one he hadn’t charmed the socks off of so far was...

“Man, why doesn’t he just fight all those guys? I mean, just pull his sword out and...”

“Come on, brat; if Westley killed Count Rugen, there wouldn’t be anything left for Inigo..”

“Don’t call me “brat,” you overgrown rooster!” Looking around for an ally, Yahiko seized on the other man sitting on the couch, “Hey, Kenshin; you said you had experience, right? Wesley could have just whipped out his sword and beaten those guys, right?”

“Well, Yahiko, I have to agree with you; Westley could have killed all of the soldiers, but he’s probably more interested in finding a way into the castle, or their headquarters, so that he can get Buttercup back.”

“Oh! So, it’s like a spy mission?”

“I guess you could call it something like that...”

Kaoru felt a growing sense of panic at the way her brother was happily chatting with the guy— _demon!_ she reminded herself—that one of her best friends had brought home.

 _‘Supernatural threats should come clearly labeled, with risks and side effects clearly marked on the package!’_ she thought crossly as she stood up and went to get something to drink. _‘And what am I going to do about that sword? I can’t call home now and ask them to... well, I’m not even sure what I could ask them to do if I called... say, “Hi, there’s this possibly cursed, definitely demonic sword under my bed, the thing that has those wacky charms from grandpa all over it, and could you please either bring it over here or throw it into the nearest lake, depending on.. well, let me just flip a coin, because I’m not really sure, and the demon who owns the sword has shown up and is sitting on my couch eating pizza and giving my little brother pointers on how to fight with swords..”?’_

_‘But.. he doesn’t have his sword right now... which means that he probably can’t... and he said it’s been several years since he’d had a chance to... well, anyway, if he thinks that he can coerce me into letting him have his sword back, into letting him have the chance to kill again... No way. Not going to happen.’_

When she came back in, Kenshin was still having a discussion with Yahiko, but the topic had shifted somewhat.

“No, no; see, he’s only _mostly_ dead....”

“Really?” said Kenshin in a tone that Kaoru pegged as somewhere between interested and drawling. 

She stood, frozen, as the redhead continued.

“Huh. So, he even though they... killed him—and very thoroughly, I might add, really excellent work—he can still come back, and make sure that he takes care of everything he needs to?”

Yahiko nodded enthusiastically, almost sending another cookie flying across the room. “Yup! I mean, isn’t that cool?”

Kenshin’s voice was definitely full of undertones, shades of meaning that had Kaoru clenching her hands tightly on her glass, as he replied, “Oh, absolutely; that’s just... fascinating. Don’t you think that’s fascinating, Kaoru? The difference between mostly dead and all...”

If asked to swear to it in a court of law, Kaoru would have steadfastly maintained that her entire glass of Coke ended up all over Kenshin’s shirt entirely of its own volition, possibly as a result of sunspots or alien telepathic activity.

Of course, that would have been a lie.

Fortunately, there were benefits to a life-long reputation as a bit of a klutz in everything except kendo. Avoiding dish duty at family reunions... being recruited to help god-awful Christmas and birthday presents have unfortunate accidents... and being able to look a demon straight in the eye and say, “Oh! Oh, I’m so _terribly sorry_ ; I must have tripped,” and have everybody in the room just roll their eyes and chalk it up to another instance of Kaoru versus gravity.

Well, everybody in the room except the demon in question, who looked down at his now-cola-soaked shirt, then back up at Kaoru with eyes that showed definite amber sparks, before saying, “Oh… don’t worry about it. Accidents happen. I’m just glad you didn’t break your glass; somebody could have gotten hurt. But I think...”

His words were temporarily garbled as he proceeded, quite casually, to strip off his shirt.

Kaoru blinked. Then she blinked again. And then she told the part of her brain that was trying to convince her that staring at Kenshin’s very toned chest and abs was a really good way to secretly check for the scars she must have given him to go take a cold mental shower.

Kenshin, completely unconcerned that he was standing in her living room without a shirt on, gave her a grin and said, “I think it’s probably unhealthy to sit around in damp clothing... and I should rinse this out before it dries. Kaoru, if you have a spare sweatshirt, I’d really appreciate it.”

As he headed into the kitchen to rinse the shirt, Kaoru glared at his retreating form. And once again found it necessary to chant under her breath, “Mental cold shower, mental cold shower...”

Rumaging through the boxes of winter clothes she’d stuck in the spare closet, she finally found the perfect sweatshirt for Kenshin to spend the rest of the evening in.

It had been a present from her grandfather, who she strongly suspected was color-blind. It was overly large and very comfortable, and she sometimes wore it when she spent the weekend lounging rather than working.

It was also pink. Very, very pink.

When Kenshin came back into the living room, Kaoru handed him the sweatshirt with a smile and an expression in her eyes that could probably have cut glass.

Looking her directly in the eyes, Kenshin smiled and said, “Thank you, Kaoru! I... appreciate your concern for me.”

Managing to simultaneously ignore the flex of his muscles as he pulled the shirt over his head and not stomp out of the living room in annoyance at the way he hadn’t even _blinked_ at being offered a shirt that color, Kaoru went back to her rocking chair and settled in to watch the rest of the movie and compose an alphabetical list of horrible fates she wanted to inflict on a certain red-haired, violet- or possibly amber-eyed annoyance currently grinning broadly at Westley’s explanation of “to the pain.”

Once the movie was over, and Sano had volunteered to help dispose of the last of the pizza, Kaoru headed into the kitchen to put the glasses into the dishwasher and the paper plates in the large bag of general moving-related garbage. Megumi followed shortly afterwards, bringing Sano’s empty beer bottles and tossing them into the recycling bin.

“Hey, Kaoru; Sano and I are going to head home soon. Should we give Yahiko a ride back home? I can’t imagine you’d want him biking back at this hour.”

“That would be great, Megumi. I can bring his bike back home tomorrow sometime; it’s no problem. Thanks for all of your help! Oh… and Megumi?”

“Yes?”

“What’s a horrible, painful, debilitating and preferably fatal disease that starts with “x”?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In this chapter I don’t own: “The Princess Bride,” “Muppet Treasure Island,” “The Wizard of Oz,” or “Highlander.”


	6. Winding Down

Kenshin said a series of perfectly polite goodbyes while Megumi and Sano and Yahiko were still sorting out who was carrying what out to the car. Rapid thinking and throwing on her dish gloves saved Kaoru from having to shake his hand, but she couldn’t do anything about the knowing look in his eyes that said he knew exactly why she’d developed a sudden urge to thoroughly clean off the kitchen counters.

_‘And disinfect them. And if I could figure out a way to burn them... dammit, what is it about this guy that always makes me think like a pyromaniac?’_

Once she was alone in her new apartment, and had developed a reasonable plan for what she was going to unpack next.... her clothes, definitely, and the rest of her books.... anything kitchen-related could wait.... Kaoru relaxed. 

Until she had figured out exactly how big of a problem Kenshin was going to be, and what exactly he wanted —well, she was pretty sure she knew what he wanted, and that sword was staying exactly where it was, thank you very much— she was just going to have to be careful. And try to figure out a way to eliminate the recently-returned demonic threat without making her nearest and dearest think that the stress of suddenly living in the real world had completely unhinged her.

That probably meant that starting a notebook clearly labeled “101 Ways to Kill Kenshin” was out of the question.

_‘I wonder if I should set up the computer so that I can see if EBay sells things like wooden stakes and big silver crosses.... not that I’m sure that would work... still, it would be a place to start. That or see if I can persuade the building manager that we really need a moat, on the off chance that Kenshin can’t cross running water...’_

Kaoru pursed her lips and shook her head with a sigh as she finished gathering the leftovers and packing them up to put into the fridge. She had to admit that Battousai.... Kenshin... whatever his real name might be.... had come up with a completely diabolical way of sneaking back into her life. 

Normality.

Everything about this version of Kenshin practically screamed “harmless, average guy”—completely unlike the predatory, dangerous aura he’d exuded in high school, the one that had made him so irresistible to the people around him. Even the fact that he was friends with Sano made him seem annoyingly normal. Kaoru honestly couldn’t think of a person less attuned to possible supernatural events or less likely to get caught up in them than Sanosuke Sagara. Not that Sano lacked imagination, she amended. It was just that all of his mental energies were devoted to making his way in the real world. No time to indulge in flights of fancy like demons when you were concentrating on figuring out plausible-sounding reasons for other people to pick up the tab. It was the same with Megumi, who had all of the practical common sense needed to be a success in her profession.

It was better that way; she knew that. It was better that her friends and family just went on thinking that the world was cheerful and normal and completely free of supernatural threats. The only problem was persuading the supernatural threats themselves of that. At the moment, there was nothing specific that Kaoru could point to in order to prove to her friends that Kenshin was a threat; nothing that she wanted to talk about, certainly nothing that they would believe.

She was really hoping that Kenshin didn’t decide to jump straight to the “Reveal the secret hiding place of my sword or your friends and/or relatives are going to be dumped into this tank of koi fish with severe personality problems, BWA HA HA HA HA!” part of the proceedings without seeing if he could get what he wanted by just threatening her. Not that she wanted to be threatened, of course, but it would at least give her a little bit of time to come up with a plan.

If he did decide to involve Sano and Megumi and Yahiko.... Kaoru couldn’t think of anything brilliant off the top of her head to hinder it, given her earlier conclusion that telling the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth was only going to convince them that she was a few Froot Loops short of a bowl. As much as she hated it, she was going to have to wait for Kenshin to make a move and see what sorts of tactics he was going to employ before she came up with a counter-move. In the meantime, her only options were to do research, exercise caution, and wait. And take out any frustrations on her brother during kendo practice.

She double-checked her locks and all of her windows out of habit before she decided to take a quick shower before bed to get rid of the grime of a full day spent hauling and cleaning and then hauling some more. 

Stepping out of the shower, she suddenly realized that she hadn’t unpacked her bathrobe yet. Wrapping a towel around herself and muttering under her breath, Kaoru went to go dig through the boxes in her bedroom, where she’d tossed her non-winter clothes, in an attempt to find something clean and comfortable to sleep in.

For a moment, she regretted giving Kenshin that sweatshirt. It really was terribly comfortable, and she’d used it as a nightshirt in the past. Particularly when she felt the need to wear something snuggly enough to make her forget things like exam stress, work stress, Misao’s dog eating her favorite shoes, or demonic former high school classmates whose weapon she’d stolen.

Kaoru went over to the boxes of her clothing and opened the first one, only to find that it was empty. Blinking slightly, she proceeded to the next box, only to discover the same thing. Turning almost without conscious thought, Kaoru reached out a hand and opened her closet door.

All of her seasonal clothes were there, hanging neatly, arranged by outfit and color. Her brain couldn’t manage more than a faint, _‘Huh...’_ as it replayed an image of Kenshin coming out of her bedroom after she’d woken up, before a thought struck her. _‘Oh..please, please don’t tell me...’_

Her feet moved almost of their own volition over to her dresser, and she opened the drawers with trepidation.... to find them filled with her neatly-arranged t-shirts, socks that had been perfectly paired off, and...

_‘The next time I see him, I’m going to throw him out the window. No, I’m going to take him to Sano’s place, which is on a much higher floor, and toss him out of THAT window...’_

Kaoru thought as she looked down into the drawer of perfectly folded, arranged-by-color, matching-sets-neatly-matched stockings, bras, and underwear.

* * *

Walking back to where he was currently staying, breathing in the faint scent of Kaoru that he could still smell in the ridiculously bright sweatshirt she’d handed him, Kenshin smiled to himself.

The day had gone very, very well.

Better than he’d expected, actually. When he’d gotten to know Sano a couple of years ago, he hadn’t expected the man to end up dating the cousin of the girl he’d been looking for for so long. When he’d realized the situation, he’d had to spend several months managing to avoid any occasion where he might get introduced to Sano’s girlfriend’s cousin... although the time Sano had tried to persuade him to agree to a blind dinner date had _almost_ been amusing enough to get him to agree.

The casual mention that Kaoru was going to be moving, however, had given him the perfect opportunity.

Why go to all the trouble of lurking in a dark, ridiculously uncomfortable alley stinking of things even _he_ didn’t want to think about when you could casually stroll in in the middle of the day? A friend of a friend, someone whose help had been gratefully accepted—true, she hadn’t known whose help she was expressing gratitude for at the time, but that was a mere technicality.

And, of course, there was very little she could do, surrounded by her nearest and dearest. Well, not unless she wanted to look like she’d gone completely crazy. It was a situation that had played right into his hands.

One corner of his mouth quirked up. He had been curious about what her reaction would be before he’d seen her. Would she remember him, or would she refuse to let herself acknowledge the truth? Would she panic? Scream?

The fainting had surprised him. Although, considering everything he knew about Kaoru, he should have realized she’d do something completely unexpected. As it was, he’d been so startled that he’d barely managed to catch her as she dropped to the ground. 

She still smelled the same... sweet and clean, with the scent of jasmine. And Sano and Yahiko’s panicked decision that the couch had to get brought upstairs first for Kaoru to lie on had allowed Kenshin to spend quite a bit longer than he’d expected cradling her in his arms. When Megumi had finally noticed, she’d been apologetic, and Kenshin’s smiling declaration that it was perfectly fine, not a problem, really no trouble at all, to keep holding Kaoru and carry her bridal-style into the apartment, had clearly made her think even more highly of his unselfishness.

The fact that he was able to lean ever-so-slightly forward and press his nose into her hair and the curve of her neck was something he didn’t really feel like mentioning.

Her fingers had been clenched slightly in his shirt when he finally went to set her down, a fact which had made him smile as he went to untangle them. He was tempted to brush his lips across the back of her knuckles, but forced himself to behave on the grounds that he would rather do something like that for the first time when she was awake... and when neither her little brother nor her cousin were anxiously hovering nearby with tea and sympathy.

“I knew, I just _knew_ that she was going to push herself too hard...” Megumi muttered in concerned annoyance.

“Does she do this sort of thing often? The fainting, I mean.” Kenshin inquired in the perfect tone of slight curiosity about the friend of a friend.

“Fainting? No. I mean, I remember that she fainted once back in high school, but other than that... it’s just that she always works herself too hard; she never gives herself any time to stop and rest, and what with graduating, and starting her job, and now moving....” The dark-eyed girl shook her head. “Honestly, that girl needs a keeper.”

Kenshin looked down at where Kaoru was curled up on the couch, her face not quite as pale as the last time he’d seen her, but close. He could see the dark circles under her eyes, and he wasn’t entirely certain that she hadn’t lost weight since high school. 

“Mmmm” he said non-commitedly, and then, changing the subject, continued, “Well, while you’re keeping an eye on Kaoru, I’m going to help with the unpacking, ok? Unless you need me for something in here. Oh, hang on, I brought some homemade shortbread—do you think she might like some, after she wakes up?”

“If she doesn’t, I’ll make her eat it anyway; I’m sure she needs it. Thanks, Kenshin! You’ve been a big help.”

Of course, Kenshin hadn’t specified exactly _how_ he was going to help Kaoru with her unpacking....

* * *

The night air was warm and pleasant as Kenshin walked down the streets of the neighborhood Kaoru had moved into. The buildings were mostly older, brick and stone and occasional decorative elements from when this had been a thriving quarter of the city. Now a fair number of the storefronts had been boarded up, and the rest had heavy metal grates over them at night. He could sense a few loiterers in random alleys or doorways, but nothing close enough to worry him.

Sano had mentioned that Kaoru had picked this neighborhood because the rent was cheaper, and because it was fairly close to the school where she was practice teaching and where she hoped to get a permanent position the following year. It was a far cry from the pleasantly green, pleasantly average suburb that the high school had been located in. 

Taking a shortcut through an alleyway, Kenshin sincerely hoped that she’d managed to buy a car by now, instead of getting around solely on that bicycle she used to have...

* * *

_Finding himself surrounded by smoke and the smell of blood was nothing new, really._

_The fact that the blood was **his** , however.... that was definitely.... unusual. _

_He staggered to his feet, choking and spitting up the last of the blood that had been in his lungs. Putting his hand to his chest, where he could sense the faint burn of a healing wound, he winced slightly at the feel of what had clearly been a deep puncture, one that had obviously pierced a lung and possibly hit the top of his heart. Feeling upwards, he found a second healing slash mark through his throat, one that explained the large puddle of blood he’d found himself in._

_The burning sensation on his cheek was also clearly a healing wound, one that, unless he was mistaken, might actually leave a scar._

_Kenshin shook his head to clear it. What on earth had happened? What could have attacked him and inflicted this kind of wounds?_

_And was it still here... where was here, anyway?_

_Looking around, he realized that he was in a room with a black and white... and now red... tile floor.... counters with mixers, several ovens, a dishwasher next to a sink that somebody had filled with papers that were flickering with flames that had already started to reach the wooden cupboards above them, walls that were a kind of pale industrial green only found in hospitals and..._

_...schools? High school....._

_... the smell of his own blood, and smoke, and, very faintly, jasmine...._

_.. the memory of deep blue eyes.... dark hair..._

_Looking down on the floor, he could see a piece of fabric... a hair ribbon, he recognized, although he couldn’t have said how... at the edge of the pool of blood._

_He picked it up with hands that were still slightly unsteady from blood loss and his recent experience with death, and tried to remember exactly what had happened._

_He still had a couple of minutes before the fire got dangerous enough that he would have to leave... and why was the building on fire, anyway? Some kind of cooking class disaster?_

_No...no.. it hadn’t been that... although...._

_His eyes were drawn to the open closet door at the back of the room.._

_Closet. Bucket. There was a bucket in the closet. He knew that._

_Why on earth was he remembering a bucket?_

_No, not the bucket; the closet. There had been somebody in the closet.._

_His fragmented memory was returning now as his body got past remembering things like how to breathe and moved on to secondary concerns._

_A girl. The girl that he’d seen in the hallway, and, briefly, in the library... those blue eyes that sparked at him, unexpected in a girl who he wasn’t sure he’d ever heard speak two words outside of the classroom..._

_... the girl who, he remembered, had seen him in the auditorium..._

_The girl who had been a witness._

_That..... was bad._

_He’d chased her—of course he’d chased her—and he’d found her, in that closet, in the back of the room.._

_... She’d been there, practically projecting helplessness, but he’d felt no fear from her; it had been confusing, but he’d been distracted by... other things about her._

_And then..._

_She’d killed him._

_Quickly, without hesitation, striking fiercely and repeatedly.. and had stood there, her face pale as bone in the moonlight, the last thing he remembered seeing before waking up again._

_Kenshin groaned to himself. Killed, taken completely by surprise... his Master was going to have a field day with this. He could hear the lectures already._

_The fire was rising in earnest now, and he realized he had to get out of the building. Remembering and thinking could come later; now he needed to take his..._

_Thought stopped as he suddenly realized that his sword wasn’t there._

_Looking around, he ascertained that no, his sword was not on the floor next to him, nor leaned against the wall, nor in the closet..._

_She’d **taken his sword**? She’d killed him, and then she’d taken his sword before she left._

_‘Well,” he thought ‘Well, well, well...’_

_And he grinned to himself as he leapt lightly out of the window and deftly skirted the arriving fire trucks._

_‘How very, very interesting...’_

_And as he headed across the soccer field, replaying the details of his encounter with the girl.. ‘Kaoru,’ he managed to remember...’Kaoru...something that starts with a ‘K’...’ Kenshin thought to himself that he had been completely correct when he had decided that some things were worth breaking rules for..._

* * *

As he exited the alley and crossed the street to the low wall surrounding the cemetery, Kenshin smiled again. 

He could still remember returning the next day, to a school that was half a burnt-out ruin, and shell-shocked students, to news cameras and reporters speculating on rampaging gangs and PCP usage, reciting platitudes about parental and community involvement. Barely paying attention, he had skirted the crowds like a shadow, looking for long black hair and blue eyes, that bright sparking spirit.

But there had been no sign of her. In retrospect, he supposed it made sense. Since she already knew that the school was mostly burned down, there was no reason for her to show up. And if the paleness of her face was anything to go by, she might very well have gone home and collapsed from the stress. If only he knew where home was for her....

She had apparently already done something to his sword that made it impossible for him to track its location; another point in her favor. He would have expected.... but no; considering the fact that she’d managed to kill him and then apparently work hard to cover up everything that had happened in the school last night, he couldn’t say that he had __expected__ her to do anything except surprise him again.

She had continued to surprise him; he had stayed in the city as long as he dared, looking for her, trying to move without attracting attention to himself or, potentially, to her.

And he had continued looking, whenever he had the opportunity, even in places where he honestly didn’t expect her to be, on the grounds that, considering their earlier encounters, things he didn’t expect were the most likely things to happen where she was concerned.

The first conclusion that he’d arrived at, almost the morning after his death, was that he would need to have a plan when he saw her again, rather than just rushing in blindly. In fact, he had written out a list somewhere.... now was probably a good time to dig it out from wherever it had gotten to in the intervening time.

It had taken him five years, but he had finally found the girl. Kaoru. Not only that, he’d let her know, which was a different thing altogether. Now, he just had to think of what to do next...

Leaping easily over the wall, Kenshin considered for a moment. Actually, he did have a good idea what to do __immediately__ next.

Reaching his hand and mind out, he pulled the sword he’d been borrowing out of where he traditionally kept his weapons.

After the excitement of the day, a little work before bed was just what he needed to wind down.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (official movie trailer announcer-type voice) Next time on “Frozen Moonlight”: School days, school days.... Kaoru deals with supervisors, students, and those darned library stacks.
> 
> In this chapter I don’t own: Senor Senor Senior’s peeved koi fish from “Kim Possible,” or any Froot Loops at all. Not even one. I don’t know what that says about my sanity level. And I continue to not own anything by Joss Whedon.


	7. By Any Other Name

The sun was shining brightly, the birds were singing cheerfully, the coffeepot was burbling happily away in the kitchen, and Kaoru really didn’t want to face any of it. 

Well, maybe the coffeepot. 

She slowly peeked out from where she’d cocooned herself under the covers, scanning the room for any sign of black jeans or red hair. 

Vastly relieved, Kaoru got out of bed and staggered over to the shower. It was her first day in her new apartment and still her first semester in her new classroom assignment; she was not in the mood to deal with annoying and stalker-like complications. 

Unfortunately, she couldn’t chalk it all up to a bizarre hallucination, since she was definitely in her new apartment, and her clothes had all clearly been unpacked by somebody with more organizational skills than her. 

Kaoru got dressed, gulped down her coffee, managed to only burn one slice of toast—although she maintained that that sort of thing was the fault of the toaster—and sprinted out to where her bicycle was chained. 

Sano had been telling her to invest in a car for a while now, but she figured she really didn’t need to worry about it until the weather got colder and it started getting dark earlier. For now, she would enjoy the exercise and fresh air that she got riding to and from school and continue to save what she could so that she could get a car that was actually decent enough to last for the next several years when the time came. 

Normally, she would use the time to relax and think about the day, but today she was having trouble. 

_‘Gee, I wonder why THAT could be,’_ she thought to herself sarcastically. _‘Not like the Ghost of Traumas Past suddenly showed up on my doorstep, making small talk with my friends and... and... helping to haul furniture. And how on earth does he know Sano, anyway? Not like I can ask Sano, ‘Hey, so, how did YOU get to know a demon, anyway?’_

_Although...._

_Sano can’t possibly know that he’s a demon, and he’s known Kenshin long enough to trust him, so... so he must know Kenshin as doing SOMETHING for a living, like being a doctor, or a teacher, or a lawyer—well, probably not a lawyer, some kind of reasonably non-demonic profession, —but something. Which means that Kenshin must have some kind of long-term cover, or whatever.....something he does on days that don’t end in “Die!”... and that means, if I can find out what it is, and kill him for REAL this time... I can manage to solve this.....This is good, it’s at least vaguely plan-like, and more than I had last night...’_

First things first, though. Before she even thought about interrogating Sano and trying to track down Kenshin, Kaoru was going to need to go spend some serious time in the library making a list of things likely to kill pesky returning demons.... 

Of course, since the demon in question was probably going to be on his guard after the _last_ time she’d killed him, she was going to have to be very, very careful about it. However, at least now she had a plan. That was progress, right? 

* * *

She arrived at the school approximately five minutes before the buses pulled in, which meant it was approximately fifteen minutes after she should have gotten there. The new apartment was clearly slightly further away than she’d thought, and she made a mental note to adjust her alarm clock and morning routine accordingly. As much as that was going to suck. 

_‘Dignified walk down the hallway, dignified walk down the hallway... do NOT run, do NOT end up at the classroom door looking red-faced and sweaty and discombobulated and...’_

Logically, she knew that teachers couldn’t get detention, but there was still a part of her brain that refused to believe it, and that had a tendency to run around gibbering in panic, afraid that.... 

“Well, Ms Kamiya—how lovely that you’ve decided to join us this morning.” 

Kaoru froze at the slightly mocking voice from behind her, the faint scent of smoke she could smell wafting from the Teacher’s Lounge. 

_‘Rats...’_ she thought, before she turned around to face her supervising teacher, a man who, until yesterday’s encounter, was ranked pretty much number one on her list of people she didn’t want to encounter unexpectedly and without preparation. And possibly heavy weaponry. 

“Good morning, Mr. Fujita,” Kaoru said as she turned. She was particularly proud of the fact that she managed to not glare, growl, or blush. 

Giving her his trademark sarcastic semi-smirk, the older teacher replied, “Good morning. I trust that you remembered to review the materials we’re going to be using today in fourth period?” 

“Ah....yes; of course...” Kaoru replied, frantically searching her brain for the details of the papers she knew she’d read over the weekend, before the manifold horrors and annoyances of Moving Day. 

“Excellent. Then you will of course be prepared to give the lecture to the class, to prepare them for the test that they will be taking on Wednesday.” 

“Yes, Mr. Fujita.... are there slides or other materials that I need to get ready?” 

_‘Please let there be slides, please let there be slides; Powerpoint graphics, a film strip, a troop of explanatory mimes, something other than just me lecturing for the entire...’_

“No, Ms Kamiya; there are no other materials for you to worry about,” he said, and his expression was several notches closer to a full-out smirk. “Just cover the material that was in the extensive and thorough set of notes I provided you with last week, and you should be fine.” 

With that, he turned and strode down the hallway, clearly expecting her to follow without being told. 

Allowing herself to indulge in one tiny glare, Kaoru followed, her brain divided between a mental review of the notes she was expected to talk about and remembering things like walking and breathing. 

All in all, she wasn’t sure that she wouldn’t have preferred to be given detention... 

* * *

Fortunately, by the time fourth period rolled around, Kaoru had gotten her brain back into reasonable working order, mentally re-assembled the notes, paid close attention to Mr. Fujita’s discussion of related topics in the earlier periods, and grabbed two more cups of truly horrible coffee from the Teacher’s Lounge. 

Granted it wasn’t the best lecture she’d ever given, but she was certain her students—at least the ones who bothered to study and review over the next two days—would manage to pass the test. 

Of course, with Mr. Fujita composing the exam, she supposed that it was never possible to be entirely sure. 

After the class, one of her students stayed behind to ask questions during lunch. Actually, two of her students stayed behind to ask questions, and to make snarky comments at each other. 

Mr. Fujita, of course, had already left for lunch, which Kaoru knew meant that he was in the Teacher’s Lounge smoking until he was forced to come back when the next set of bells rang. That meant that this was entirely her problem. Oh, joy. 

Kaoru sighed. This was really not her favorite part of her job. 

“See? I _told_ you that that wasn’t what the example was talking about; you’re getting it completely wrong!” 

“Yeah, right; if we do things your way, we’re gonna end up setting the school on fire, idiot!” 

She gritted her teeth and refrained from braining either of the two boys in front of her with a blackboard eraser.

” _Nobody_ is setting _anything_ in the building on fire.” Kaoru said firmly _‘Unless I have to do it. Again. But that doesn’t count.’_ “Now, what exactly is the problem, you two?” 

“Yutaro says...” “Yahiko wants to...” The two boys burst out simultaneously, causing Kaoru’s eyebrow to twitch. 

“What I would suggest,” she finally said, in a tone that brooked no opposition, even from a teenaged younger brother, “is that both of you re-read the textbook over lunch, and remember what we talked about in class just now, and then, if you have any further questions, you can ask me after school. Ok?” 

Fortunately, this mollified both of them and they left the classroom to head to the cafeteria. Kaoru heaved a sigh of relief. She had had trepidations about having her younger brother in the classroom where she was an Assistant Teacher, and Yahiko had been equally traumatized at the thought of having to listen to his sister, but they had developed a system that seemed to work. 

Namely, they ignored each other. Well, not completely; Yahiko was still perfectly willing to ask questions, especially when he and his lab partner were having another of their disputes, but the name of sibling was anathema to both of them while they were on school grounds. 

She wondered absently if she could persuade Kenshin to adopt a similar strategy... although preferably that strategy would be based on his going somewhere far, far away and not coming back. Ever. 

Speaking of her current problem, Kaoru looked at her watch and tried to figure out how much time she had before Mr. Fujita returned. Was it enough to head to the library and start her research efforts?

Granted, a Junior High School library was hardly likely to have advanced demon-slaughtering tips, but the legends and myths section should provide her with a place to start. 

* * *

_‘Mythology connected to the... here we go!’_ she thought to herself as she reached the relevant section. Luckily for her, none of the students had yet figured out that the unused portions of the library were some of the best parts of the school for engaging in extra-curricular activities. 

She really wasn’t sure what to look for—she couldn’t exactly go up to Kenshin and ask him what kind of demon he was and what he was doing wandering around this plane, let alone attending high school five years ago—so she settled for a selection of basic texts from various cultures, hoping she could pass off her sudden interest as some kind of personal project. 

By the time she got back to the classroom, she barely had a chance to stuff the books into her bag before Mr. Fujita strolled in, looking highly irritated at having to leave almost an entire cigarette in the Teacher’s Lounge ashtray. 

_‘You’d think that he’d have figured out by now how many cigarettes he can smoke in one period, and not continually end up starting one right before he has to leave... Hmm... I wonder how he’d react if we did a special unit on tobacco and its effects on the body? Megumi’s got some great lung slides...’_

The remaining periods passed without incident, and, after the usual meeting to “debrief,” as she thought of it, and discuss how the test on Wednesday was going to work, Kaoru spent some time waiting to see if Yahiko and Yutaro would show up with more questions. When they didn’t, she assumed that they had found what they were looking for in the book and the notes, loaded up her bike, and headed home. 

* * *

When she reached the parking lot of her apartment complex, she was so busy looking towards her door in case anything red-haired was lurking there that she skidded and almost hit a car that was pulling out from the other side of the lot. 

As she righted herself and attempted to collect the books that had come tumbling out onto the ground, she heard the driver approaching. 

“Why don’t you look where you’re...” she snapped angrily, spinning around and brandishing a copy of _Bullfinch’s Mythology_ at him, only to meet a pair of amber eyes looking at her from behind dark red bangs. 

Oh, terrific. 

Only momentarily startled, Kaoru continued her rant, “What are you trying to do, kill someb —oh, never mind; I don’t even want to know the answer... why are you here, and when are you going to go away and leave me alone, and give that back, you _moron_!” 

Kenshin, who had bent down and started to gather her books for her, looked at the titles of the volumes he was carrying with one eyebrow raised, “My.... you certainly are selecting some... _interesting_ reading material, Kaoru. Any particular reason for your choice of subject?” 

She ground out, “It’s a personal project,” through gritted teeth and went to snatch the books back from him. 

He moved his arm and turned so that her lunge brought her almost flush against his chest, so close that her breath moved the edges of his hair slightly, and she could catch the faint traces of ginger and pine trees. 

She grabbed the book from him when his arm moved slightly downwards and moved back as fast as she could. Her leap backwards almost caused her to stumble and fall, and only the knowledge that he would doubtless reach out a hand that she would have no polite way of turning down enabled her to keep her balance. 

Kaoru wondered if it was possible to “accidentally” brain somebody with a mythology textbook. 

Kenshin’s expression remained vaguely amused as she stepped back, but that changed as he looked beside her and saw her bike. 

“You.. you’re riding your _bike_ to and from school?” he demanded, in a tone that Kaoru could find no reasonable explanation for. 

“No, but my broomstick was in the shop today. Obviously, I’m riding my bike; it’s good exercise and I usually enjoy the peace and quiet and _time to myself_.” 

He frowned, and opened his mouth to say something, but then closed it again. She was glad; she doubted he would have appreciated her trying to shove her bike lock up his nose. 

“If there’s nothing else, Kenshin, I have unpacking and settling in and schoolwork to take care of. Go away.” 

She was braced for a fight, and was surprised when he merely nodded, something in his eyes almost distant, distracted, and then proceeded to get back into his car. 

“Mm... Well, good luck with that, Kaoru.” And then, as he closed his door, very faintly, “I’ll see you later...” 

Kaoru was sure that her glare was enough to burn holes in his tires, but, unfortunately, it didn’t seem to work. 

Taking several calming breaths, she headed over to her building, stuffing the books back into her bag as she walked. 

* * *

_‘Mail, mail, junk, take-out menu, take-out menu, take-out menu, take-out menu.... if Yahiko’s been putting take-out menus in my mailbox again, I’m gonna..... junk, junk, bill.’_

The mail --and the menus; Kaoru was annoyed, but she was also a realist-- went into her bag, and Kaoru tried to concentrate on what she wanted to take care of in her apartment as she headed up the stairs. 

There was a large box outside of her door, white with a red ribbon. Slowing, she looked at it nervously. 

Strange packages on one’s doorstep, in her experience of watching films and reading books, did not bode well. On the other hand, it wasn’t ticking, or oozing, or giving signs of attacking... and, frankly, Kenshin had been coming from the other part of the complex, so she was pretty sure that this wasn’t... 

Could this be something her father had sent? He had made noises about a moving-in present, and she had expected him yesterday or today... 

Biting her lip, Kaoru knelt down, poked the box experimentally, and then slowly removed the ribbon. 

Lifting the cover, she was overwhelmed with the scent of flowers as she gazed at two dozen perfect red roses, nestled in baby’s breath and greenery, the most beautiful floral arrangement that she’d ever seen in her life, and certainly more expensive than she’d ever expected from her.... 

Running her hands almost reverently down the arrangement, from the velvety petals to the long stems, which had been carefully de-thorned, Kaoru’s fingers suddenly met unexpected softness that her brain recognized as not being plant-like in nature. 

She slid her fingers under it and tugged it into view.... 

... and found herself staring at a very familiar blue ribbon... 

... a ribbon whose indigo color was faintly mottled with rusty splotches along one edge....

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (official movie trailer announcer-type voice) Next time on “Frozen Moonlight”: Timing questions, transportation questions, and research questions... good thing Kaoru has her notebooks and pens unpacked already.... 
> 
> In this chapter I don’t own: Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” or William Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet.”


	8. This Ain’t No Technological Breakdown

The one positive thing about feeding two dozen long-stemmed red roses down her garbage disposal was that it made her apartment smell really, really nice. Even the next morning, as Kaoru was stumbling from bedroom to coffee maker, the odor of roses permeated the air, causing her to stop and sniff appreciatively, enjoying the sweet perfume...

... until she remembered exactly why that scent was filling her apartment...

Scowling at nothing in particular, Kaoru wondered if she could manage not to breathe for the rest of the time she was getting ready for work.

_‘This is no time to stop and smell the roses of... of... evil distractedness and... and... demonic...umm... evil!’_ Sighing, Kaoru decided that she really shouldn’t attempt proverbs before she’d had her coffee. Possibly not even afterwards.

Instead of toast, she opted for a quick bowl of cereal. Actually, it was a quick bowl of several cereals, since Kaoru tended to buy boxes of her favorites and then mix them together. At the moment she was exploring the possibilities of o-shaped cereals in different combinations.

_‘Milk, milk...where did I put the milk... lychee-flavored yogurt? How did that get in here? Ah,there’s the milk...’_

Remembering how tardy she’d been the day before, Kaoru finished gulping down breakfast in record time and dashed down the stairs to where her bike...

...wasn’t...

Blinking in shock, Kaoru took a step backwards and looked again. Black bike that had seen better days, belonging to the lady upstairs, who had also seen better days. Blue and purple bikes from the teenage twins in the next building over. Green bike whose owner had apparently moved away and forgotten all about it. Silver bike that she used to ride back and forth from her very, very important job...

Nope, still not there.

Kaoru felt like her lungs weren’t getting any oxygen as she stared at the bike rack. How could... how was...

She’d just moved here! Into a neighborhood that was supposed to be... well, safe enough that her father accepted that she was living here. And she’d only been here for two days! And now she was going to be late for work, _really_ late, not just slightly late, and... and...

Kaoru looked speculatively at the green bike and wondered how much effort it would take to cut the lock.

Her toolbox was upstairs; surely it couldn’t be THAT difficult to...

“Something wrong?” a horribly familiar voice inquired

Besides which, she felt a sudden urgent need to have access to her hammer.

Turning around, Kaoru glared at Kenshin, who was leaning casually against the passenger side of his car, looking at her with that perfectly calm expression that made her want to throw things—preferably sharp--- at him.

“No,” she said between clenched teeth, “Everything is perfectly fine, thank for asking. What are you doing here and how soon are you leaving?”

“Oh, just had some things to take care of,” Kenshin said smoothly. He held out a paper bag to her and continued, “There’s a great bakery around the corner from here. Danish?”

“Yes, it is,” she replied flatly, before turning to walk past him and head to the bus stop. If she was very, very lucky and promised to light candles to whichever deities controlled the city’s public transportation networks, she might be able to make it to school before either Mr. Fujita or—possibly worse—her little brother noticed that she had been missing for too long.

She wasn’t sure how it happened—she really needed to remember to pay more attention to the demon she was near rather than the other, less supernatural problems in her life—but Kenshin was suddenly standing in front of her again.

_‘HOW does he bloody _do_ that?’_ Kaoru thought with vast exasperation.

“Let me give you a ride,” Kenshin said. It wasn’t really a suggestion.

_‘Over my dead...’_ Kaoru thought, then forced herself to smile and say, with cutting politeness, “No, thank you; I can take the bus without any trouble at all.”

Kenshin looked at his watch with what appeared to Kaoru to be exaggerated care and said, “Hmm... I don’t think that the bus will get you there on time. It’s no problem, really. Just get in.”

“I _really_ don’t want...”

“Get into the car, kitten. I’m not asking again.”

Kaoru gaped, then sputtered, “Ki—I—you... You weren’t “asking” before, you... you...”

Tilting his head in consideration, Kenshin commented, “No, I actually wasn’t. Come on, unless you _want_ to be late for work two days in a row... I promise that I don’t bite first thing in the morning, and I’ll let you pick whatever radio station you want.”

She opened her mouth to say something, found that her brain was still having trouble deciding what it wanted to be furious about first, and closed it again abruptly. Kaoru had to admit that she was fairly stuck. Rock and a hard place stuck. Scylla and Charbydis stuck. Devil and the deep blue... she sighed. 

The plain fact of the matter was that Kenshin was now the only way for her to get to school on time, and if she didn’t accept his offer, she was going to be in _serious_ trouble with her more-than-slightly nerve-wracking supervising teacher, whose recommendation was going to be what would make her or break her when she went to look for an actual job. 

_‘If he really wanted to drag me off for a good bout of threatening first thing in the morning, he could just do it here in the parking lot; there was no need to pretend to be all helpful and stuff... And, frankly, in this situation, annoying Mr. Fujita somehow manages to be much scarier than the possibility that this is some kind of elaborate trap by Kenshin. Demonic violence is a better excuse than a missing bike, at any rate...not more plausible, but it would probably have more obvious results....’_

Giving Kenshin a look that was intended to be equal parts Glare of Death and a subtle reminder that many women living in large cities made a point of carrying pepper spray in their purses, Kaoru got into the car. She felt tight as a coiled spring the entire ride to school, no matter how much she tried to distract herself with visions of lecture notes and test preparation. Kenshin was no help at all. He focused on the road, drove perfectly safely, put the radio on a news program with light jazz music and left it there, and, otherwise, was the model of an efficient chauffeur. There were no attempts at creepy small talk, no strident demands to have his sword returned, no threats to her or her family...

If anything, the polite silence made her tenser than ever.

When they approached the school, Kaoru was strongly tempted to make him let her out a block away so that nobody would see her getting out of his car. However, before she could figure out a way to phrase her request that didn’t sound like she was a teenager embarrassed about the family station wagon, Kenshin was pulling into the faculty parking lot and stopping the car.

She blinked, confused, but decided not to press her luck and uttered a garbled, ”ThankyouverymuchKenshinI’llbeheadingofftoclassnow” as she exited. Before she had gotten more than a couple of steps, a cry of “Kaoru!” had her stopping and spinning around, automatically reaching out her hand to catch... car keys?

She opened her mouth to say... well, she wasn’t sure, but before she could figure it out, Kenshin grinned at her and said, “Just put the keys under the driver’s seat when you get back to your place, ok? Don’t worry; I’ve got a spare set.”

With that, he turned, hands in his jacket pockets, and strode casually away.

Kaoru wasn’t sure how long she would have stood there, doing her best impression of a startled fish, but the sound of the bells from the church across the street broke her reverie. Putting the keys in her bag, she finally turned and headed to class.

_‘What... why....he’s giving me his car for the day? Why would he....’_

Maybe it was actually a really good thing that Kenshin had happened to be in the neighborhood the morning that her bike had happened to get...

Kaoru stopped suddenly and mentally ran through the morning’s events again. And then once more.

Oh, as soon as she figured out how, she was going to _kill_ him. Possibly more than once. 

* * *

The morning’s events had her on edge the entire school day. Even Mr. Fujita noticed that she was more tense than usual. Well, at least she thought that he noticed. At any rate, his sarcasm was much milder than the average Tuesday. Or else her powers of perception were seriously injured by the knowledge of the car keys lurking in the depths of her purse, and the thought that she was going to be driving Kenshin’s car, by herself, back to her apartment that afternoon. 

The drive itself was also tense, no matter how loudly she turned up the relaxing music. Try as she might, Kaoru couldn’t come up with an easy way to accidentally misplace a late-model BMW by the time she’d gotten home.

Well, none that wouldn’t leave her stranded in a part of town she really didn’t want to be in, even in daylight.

Briefly wondering if she could write “Free to a Good Home” on the windshield with soap and claim it been there when she got the car, Kaoru put the keys under the seat, locked it, and headed back upstairs, checking the mail for the days allotment of bills, junk mail, and still more take-out menus. She was strongly tempted to go home, lock and bolt her doors, turn out all the lights, and pretend that she had fled the country, because otherwise, she was fairly sure Kenshin would take advantage of coming by to pick up his car to knock on her door for no good reason.

Although maybe if she could figure out a way to booby-trap the hallway...

Kaoru sighed as she opened the door to her apartment and deposited her bag and coat on the chair next to the door. Just because he knocked on her door didn’t mean that she had to let him into her apartment. She could just talk to him with the chain on the door, or grandly ignore him, or make faces at him through the peephole.

Bad enough that she could still smell those idiotic, recently-disposed of...

The mail fluttered to the floor, forgotten, as Kaoru looked at her dining room table and saw the vase, with two dozen, perfect, red long-stemmed roses...

For the next hour, she alternated between valiantly ignoring the flowers and glaring at them balefully.

One batch had already made her garbage disposal complain loudly, and she was afraid that a repeat performance might kill the poor thing.

She wondered if there was anyplace local enough to walk to that was still open and selling weed killer at this hour....

Actually, Kaoru admitted to herself, she had a much more important problem to deal with. She doubted that her bike would be re-appearing anytime soon, and there was no way that she was going to spend another morning riding with the one she was fairly certain was responsible for whatever unfortunate fate it had met. She was all in favor of killing Kenshin, painfully if possible, but she really didn’t want to do it in a moving vehicle. Well, not if she was in the vehicle at the same time.

Damn... she’d missed a perfectly good opportunity to try to put a bomb under his car. Although, as she thought about it, car bombs were _definitely_ a topic she wouldn’t find useful information about in the school library. Oh well.

First things first. Picking up the vase, Kaoru went to her door and looked out into the hallway. 

_‘Since these seem to be the floral equivalent of those stupid re-lighting birthday candles, maybe I shouldn’t try to kill them again....futility is repeating the same course of action and expecting different results...’_

Looking carefully to the left and to the right, and then to the left again on general principle, Kaoru snuck out on quiet sock-clad feet, carefully navigated two flights of stairs, and left the flowers at the door of the elderly widow with the three cats. She could use something to brighten up her apartment for the rest of the week.... or, she supposed, at least until the cats started trying to eat the roses.

Having disposed of that problem Kaoru went back to her apartment to make herself dinner and start thinking about her transportation issues again. Closing her eyes, she reached into the freezer and pulled out one of the TV dinners that she had made sure were there practically before she’d moved in anything else. Her kitchen might be seriously under stocked, but as long as she could microwave something from a can or a box, she was perfectly fine. After the exploding chicken incident, her college roommates had held a Serious Discussion about whether Kaoru should even be allowed to use the microwave again, but after Shura had pointed out that the option was having Kaoru try to actually cook something, they had unanimously voted to let her continue. And then they had given her the microwave when all of the kitchen stuff had gotten divided up once they graduated.

* * *

After enjoying the night’s chicken breast with pasta and a sauce that was supposedly reminiscent of long Italian afternoons—although she wasn’t sure how--, Kaoru went back to her main quandary of the day. Having no illusions about the lifespan of a replacement bike, she didn’t even seriously consider buying a new one. She could always take the bus, but that meant she would be waiting for the bus back after school; all things—well, one thing in particular—considered, that seemed like it was a bad idea.

It looked there was only one way out of her current situation. Resolutely, she picked up the phone.

“Hi Meg! Is Sano around?... Thanks.” When Sano finally picked up the phone, Kaoru matter-of-factly said, “Sano? Somebody stole my bike; looks like you get your wish of me getting a car. Can I borrow yours for a couple of days until I get this straightened out?”

Sano sounded genuinely upset, “Somebody _stole_ your bike? Why would anybody want to steal _your_ bike?” Realizing how that sounded, he quickly amended, “Not that there’s anything wrong with your bike that would make people not want to steal... I mean, um... hey, Missy, I thought that neighborhood was supposed to be safe! Are you sure you’re all right there?”

Kaoru rolled her eyes, remembered he couldn’t see her exasperated gesture over the phone, and annoyedly said, “Sano, the neighborhood is _fine_ , I think it was probably just....just a stupid prank, ok?” _‘A stupid demonic prank that is one more thing on my list of Reasons to Kill Kenshin, Preferably Soon.’_

“Well, if you’re sure...” he said, not sounding entirely convinced. 

“Sano, my bike aside, may I _please_ borrow your car? And would you have time to go look at some used cars this Saturday if I went through the classifieds first and narrowed it down to about five options that fit my budget? Please?”

“Yes, you can use my car until you can get a decent one of your own. I can just hitch a ride with the Fox until you’re set, even if it takes a couple of weeks for you to find something. Don’t go thinking I’m going to let one of my best friends get stuck with some lemon.” He hesitated, and Kaoru could tell he wasn’t sure exactly how to continue. “Kaoru... do you need... I mean, what’s your car budget look like nowadays?”

Kaoru couldn’t blame him for asking, but her reply was still slightly acerbic as she said, “Sano, how long have I been saving up to get a car now?”

“Um... since you got your license?”

“Exactly. Plus I got a nice graduation gift from Dr. Genzai that went straight into the automotive piggybank. I mean, I’m not looking for something new here, or something with heated seats and a little computer that tells you where you’re supposed to be driving; I just want a basic first car that isn’t going to fall apart on me for the next couple of years. That should be doable, right?”

“Absolutely! No worries, Missy, just leave it to your friendly neighborhood Sano! Look, I’ll get Megumi and we’ll drop my car off over at your place in a little bit, ok? That way you can have it for tomorrow.”

“Thanks, Sano! I owe you!”

His grin was almost palpable over the phone line. “You bet, Missy! Anytime!”

* * *

It took about a half-hour before she heard Sano’s distinctive knock on her door. Taking off her dish gloves, Kaoru yelled, “Coming! Hang on, Sano!” and went to answer it.

“Hey there! Megumi said she’d be over in a little bit; she had a couple of errands she wanted to run before the stores closed.”

“Come on in, Sano! Have a seat! Can I get you something to drink? In the sense of tea, coffee, juice, or water?” Kaoru asked cheerfully. Since their phone conversation, it had occurred to her that Sano’s visit could be useful for more than just getting his car, and she was actually glad that Megumi wasn’t downstairs waiting for him to just drop the keys off and then leave. 

“Well... I suppose I could use a glass of water. Proper hydration and all that,” Sano replied with a grin.

“Coming right up!” As she was bringing the glass into the living room, Kaoru casually said, “So, what have the two of you been up to since helping me move in? Anything interesting that I’m likely to read about in the morning papers one of these days?” 

“Hey! That only happened once, and it wasn’t my fault!” Sano said, sounding injured.

_‘Ok, slightly off-balance, that’s good, now for the tricky part...’_

“Whatever you say, Sano. Oh, speaking of me moving, tell Megumi to thank that friend of hers when she sees him, ok?”

Sano blinked. “What friend... oh, you mean Kenshin? I can tell her, but Kenshin’s actually a friend of mine, not so much of Megumi’s.”

The majority of people in Kaoru’s life would have believed the innocent look that she gave Sano, complete with wide eyes and a moment of blinking in embarrassment at her error. “Oh... sorry, Sano; I just thought... isn’t he one of Megumi’s friends from the hospital?”

“No,” corrected Sano, “Kenshin is one of my friends from school. He and I go way back.”

“One of your reprobate friends from high school or one of your reprobate friends from college? I mean, does the man have an actual profession, or live off the land, or his enormous trust fund or what?” She hoped that her tone was suitably light and joking to come off as teasing Sano rather than asking actual questions.

He raised an eyebrow. “Why the sudden interest, Missy? See something you like the other day?”

This time her blinking was for real. “No! Of course not!” _‘Oh, crap; just what I needed, the rooster thinks I’m trying to pump him for information on Kenshin... which I am, but not because of anything like **that**_..’ “I’m just teasing you, Sano; when was the last time that _you_ had a reputable friend?” 

_‘Please buy that, please buy that, please buy that...’_ she thought frantically.

“I have lots of reputable friends!” Sano protested.

“I think that you just have different standards of reputability. Reputableness. Um... different ideas about who counts as reputable,” Kaoru retorted. Fortunately, before Sano could go back to the subject of why Kaoru was asking about Kenshin, there was a delicate knock on the door indicating Megumi’s arrival. 

“Hi, Kaoru. I’m just here to pick up the Rooster, I can’t stay,” Megumi said, “Sano, don’t forget to leave your car keys here for Kaoru to use.”

Sano looked somewhat sheepish as he pulled the keys from his pocket. “Oops... Thanks, Meg. I probably would have forgotten...”

“... which would have defeated the entire purpose of loaning Kaoru your car, I know. Hence my timely reminder.” Megumi finished primly.

“I knew I keep you around for more than just your gorgeous body,” Sano said with a broad grin. He ducked away from Megumi’s swat, failed to avoid the pillow Kaoru threw at him and let out a slight yelp as it connected with his backside.

“Hey, Missy, what was that for?”

“Almost forgetting the keys and/or implying that you’re the one keeping Megumi rather than her being the one who puts up with you,” Kaoru answered cheerfully.

Before Sano could come up with a response other than opening his mouth and taking a deep breath, Megumi had latched onto his arm and was dragging him towards the door while enumerating the various things that she still had to get done that evening before turning in and getting a good night’s sleep before a long day at the clinic.

* * *

After they left, Kaoru put Sano’s glass in the sink with her other dishes and went over to where she had put the books she was using for demon-related research. She had decided to work her way through them and make notes of things that might be important. On the first page of her notebook, she had already made a list of demonic qualities that Kenshin had shown, so that she would have something to compare what she was reading to: glowing amber eyes, demonic strength and speed, presumably demonic tracking ability since he’d found her in the closet without any trouble after tracking her through the school (she had a parenthetical notation concerning supernatural senses in general in relation to tracking ability), preternatural skills with a sword and no discernable moral qualms about massacring a bunch of high school students, and enjoying the taste of blood. She had also written “Fangs?” since she still wasn’t quite sure whether she had seen them or not. Given the way his jeans had fit back then... and, she admitted, still did, she thought it was highly unlikely that he had a tail, so she didn’t write that down.

_‘Ok, possible fangs and licking the blood off his hand, to which I still say, ‘eww!’ aside, have already decided that he is not a vampire, because.... well, classic symptoms of vampires seem to be outbreaks of anemia and students slowly looking paler and paler and showing up at their neighbors’ second-story windows at night claiming to be hungry, not a single massacre after hours. Besides which, if he was a vampire, he probably would have tried to kill people in a way that wouldn’t waste all that blood...’_

Leafing through a book of Japanese mythology, Kaoru dismissed the idea that Kenshin could be a _gaki_ , the Japanese equivalent of a vampire. Not only had he not drunk blood, he’d shown no sign of eating the bodies of the students he’d killed. _‘Although I suppose he could be a soul-eating gaki... how do you tell if somebody’s been munching on filet of soul, anyway...’_ She wrote “Soul-eater?” in her notebook and went on with her research.

Even though she’d known from the beginning that she really didn’t have a lot of information to go on, Kaoru still felt annoyed at how little useful information she was able to glean from the books she’d gotten from the school library.

_‘Clearly an area where we need to expand our holdings.... hmm... Incubus? Well, that would involve... .’_ Reading the rest of the description, Kaoru went bright red and uttered a faint squeak. _‘That... he... well, I’m glad that he’s shown no sign of being.... that...... Anyway, moving on.. .’_

There was nothing useful in Greek mythology, although Kaoru suspected that might be because the book focused on gods and goddesses and their misadventures rather than anything that might be described as demonic. And, no matter what some of the cheerleaders at New East Capitol might have believed prior to their unfortunate demise, Kaoru refused to believe that Kenshin was in any way a Greek god.

Several hours and an equal number of books later, Kaoru sighed and put down her pen. She hated it when the best option she could think of off the top of her head failed to work. Looking over to her desk, she thought about trying to do a quick web search, but wasn’t sure that that would result in anything other than a slew of sites with more or less reputable content and opinions about demons or demonic weapons. Without more specific information, she didn’t want to dive into the Internet for fear that she’d never surface again and be found years later, covered in cobwebs and staring at her computer screen. 

The only reference point that she could think of that might help was Kenshin’s sword, if she could dig it out from where she’d hidden it, peel the paper charms off of it, and examine it very closely for any kind of specific mystical symbols or “if found, return to” labels. She briefly considered the idea of trying to figure out a way to inspect Kenshin for mystical symbols or labels, but discarded it as soon as it crossed her mind. 

Absent-mindedly tapping her pen against the notepad, Kaoru considered the idea of retrieving the sword and using it to get a lead on Kenshin. Or possibly kill him. There were times-- like that morning, for example--- when she really regretted she hadn’t used his sword on him when she’d first picked it up; it would have been the sensible thing to do, just to make sure. She sighed. Under the circumstances, she had done well to act as rationally as she had; no use crying over spilt... whatever. 

The drawback to fetching Kenshin’s sword was that it seemed an awful lot like doing his work for him. He knew where she lived, he’d been there one morning already, and she doubted that she could carry around a large sword-shaped package and claim that it was a bassoon in clever disguise. And once all the charms were removed so that she could inspect, photograph, scan, or sketch the sword, she had the strongest suspicion that Kenshin would be able to track his sword the way he’d tracked her in the school. 

Sighing as she looked at the clock and noticed the hour, Kaoru put her pen down, stretched out the kinks in her neck and shoulders and got up to get ready to go to bed. The entire question of Kenshin’s sword and what she might or might not be able to do with it in order to figure out his identity would have to wait for another day. She wondered if she could find any kind of class project-related reason to borrow an x-ray machine or something similar from the university and then try to take a picture of the sword without removing the charms. Although then she’d have to explain to her father, brother, _and_ Mr. Fujita why she needed to bring an x-ray machine into her bedroom.

Probably not the best plan, then. 

After washing her face and brushing her teeth, Kaoru did a last check to make sure she had everything ready for the next morning, set the coffee maker to automatic, and changed into her pajamas. She closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep full of vague and complicated plans to bring her grandfather to the university to put charms on the x-ray machine so that Mr. Fujita wouldn’t notice it being brought into her bedroom.

And the moonlight shining through her window where the curtains didn’t quite meet fell on her peaceful face as she slept.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In this chapter I do not own: Lychee-flavored yogurt, since I ate it.... yeah... probably won’t be getting that again anytime soon... I also still don’t own “Muppet Treasure Island,” don’t own “Police Squad,” the “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” movie, or Chris Rea’s “The Road to Hell (Part 2)” (the source of the title quote).


	9. Like Any Uncharted Territory

Considering the way that her life had been going lately, Kaoru really shouldn’t have been surprised to be kidnapped right out of school the minute classes were over. Glaring at one of her captors, she said, “You do realize that I’ll be missed, right? I am supposed to be meeting with Mr. Fujita later this afternoon after he’s done with coaching and the faculty meeting, and if I’m not there, there will be hell to pay. By which I mean that the two of _you_ will have hell to pay.”

“That’s why we’re bribing you in advance with coffee and double-chocolate brownies,” Misao said complacently as she sank into one of the comfortable oversized purple velvet chairs in The Fateful Bean. Megumi, sipping her cappuccino, nodded assent.

_‘This is what happens when your friends know your weaknesses too well...’_ Kaoru thought to herself. Giving in, she said, “Fine. I accept your bribes in the spirit in which they are given, if and only if you promise that you will have me back to school in time for my meeting. Because if I’m late, I’m telling him that it’s your fault, and then I’m giving him your addresses.”

Having met Mr. Fujita, both of the other girls understood the seriousness of the threat. Kaoru relaxed slightly. She had already come perilously close to being caught scribbling things like “Japanese demon? Hair/eye color problematic, but explanation for sword-fighting nickname origins?” and “Aztec—read up on sacrifice techniques” in her Dayplanner during the test, and she really didn’t want another potential black mark on her record. The test itself had gone well, by which she meant that there had been minimal groans and nasty looks from the students.

Actually, in Mr. Fujita’s classroom, nobody dared to give nasty looks no matter how bad the tests were. 

Since he had other obligations immediately after school, her supervisor had brusquely told her to check to make sure that everybody’s test had been turned in, circle the names of those who had missed it, and divide the papers into two equal piles so that they could be taken home and graded. It wasn’t that much work... as long as crazed friends didn’t drag you off for coffee and gossip halfway through the tabulation process.

On the other hand, there was nothing wrong with taking the time to catch up with friends, and Kaoru had made a promise to herself not to let her new work responsibilities interfere with maintaining the few close friendships she had. And since this was some of the best coffee in the city... Kaoru let out a happy sigh as she sipped.

“So, I’ve been reading this book,” Misao started, and the other two women looked at each other in a brief moment of shared apprehension. Misao’s reading choices tended to be eclectic, to put it kindly, and you were never quite sure what was going to result when you heard that particular sentence coming out of her mouth. 

“Oh... really... “ Kaoru ventured cautiously when it became clear that the reason Megumi had ordered a large cappuccino was so that she could use it to avoid conversation if she chose.

“Time-travel romance,” Misao said, nodding, “Modern girl goes back two hundred years, give or take, and ends up in Regency England. Lots of intrigue and aristocrats.”

“Is it any good?” Megumi asked with interest. Good romances were one of the composed doctor’s recreational weaknesses, and she had a particular fondness for historically-themed stories.

Misao made a sour face. “The comedy is, sadly, _not_ on purpose. General theme of “Behold, I am an Enlightened Modern Woman and will demonstrate it by ripping my _own_ bodice rather than waiting for the rakish hero to do it for me!” and enough historical errors that even _I_ got distracted by them. Only good thing about it is that the sex scenes are many and various. At the moment the heroine is being ravished on a snooker table.”

“Snooker?” Kaoru giggled, raising one eyebrow, “As in, Trouble with a Capital “T” and that rhymes with “P” and that stands for “Snooker”? That kind of table?”

Shrugging, Misao said, “Why not? It’s a large, flat surface, it’s got felt on it...”

“Um...well... I guess you could have sex on a pool table, if you could manage to keep the balls from getting in the way,” Kaoru said speculatively, then looked up as Misao made a choking noise. “What?”

Recovering, Misao managed, “No, sorry; I... um... swallowed wrong. Too much cinnamon in the milk foam. Anyway, Megumi, I only brought it up because now I feel the need to wash my brain out with a _good_ Regency romance and wanted some recommendations from you.”

“Duly noted,” Megumi replied, “Actually, if you swing by later today, I can lend you some things. I’m going to be at my place tonight because I have the early shift tomorrow and Sano’s closing the bar tonight.”

“How is the bar business lately anyway?” Kaoru asked. She and Misao had met Sano when he was working as a bouncer for a less-than-reputable bar and dance club downtown. After dropping out of high school to travel around the world, picking up bits and pieces of languages and assorted skills from the odd jobs he took to support himself, he’d ended up staying and then persuading his friend Katsu to buy out the bar with him when the old owner had retired. Personally, Kaoru wasn’t sure if Sano had been sick of travel, or if it had been the fact that he’d met Megumi that had made him more willing to settle down. 

“The bar business is noisy, smoky, and full of idiots. And that’s just the office.” Megumi said with a sigh.

Picking up a brownie, Misao asked, “Are they still arguing about who gets to go get a business degree? And have either of them figured out it was your idea in the first place?”

Kaoru stifled a laugh. She had never been able to figure out how exactly Megumi had managed to convince Sano and Katsu that a business degree was something that one of them needed to have in order to help make the bar more successful, although she suspected hypnotic suggestion or possibly something slipped into their beer. Sano had gotten his GED back when he was still a bouncer; in fact, Misao and Kaoru had helped him study for it, and he had then gone on to community college. The argument about the business degree always ended up with Sano claiming that he had had enough school already, and Katsu pointing out that his journalism degree automatically meant that it was his destined role to sit in the back of the room and ask professors awkward questions about ethics and regulation enforcement, not kiss up to them in his quest to get a degree.

“Well, when last I left them, they were in the middle of an intense and thought-provoking debate about which “Batman” movie was the best.”

“’Mask of the Phantasm,’” Kaoru and Misao said simultaneously.

Megumi blinked. “You know, sometimes I find myself wondering how on earth you and Sano ended up such good friends, and then a moment like this comes along.”

“No, no,” Kaoru assured her, “Sano remains loyal to the movie version of the 1960s TV show... which I have to admit is hysterically funny, and chock full of campy goodness and skewed screen shots. But nothing beats “Phantasm.””

“Katsu was arguing for the one with Michael Keaton and Jack Nicholson.”

Misao snorted around a mouthful of brownie, “The one where Kim Basinger spends half her time screaming like an idiot? I don’t think so. And Mark Hamill is a much better Joker. Although,” she conceded as she licked her fingers, “I may just feel that way because I like the visuals in the animated version better.”

“I was thinking more along the lines of moments when I know that all three of you are insane,” Megumi murmured.

“You think I’m crazy?” Misao declared, her eyes sparkling.

“What rot, sir! Why, you're the very model of sanity. Oh by the way, I pressed your tights and put away your exploding gas balls,” Kaoru quipped in her best fake British accent. 

The two girls burst into giggles, more because Megumi looked like she wanted to disavow all knowledge of them than at the quote itself. It was always fun to see how quickly they could get Megumi to have that expression when they were all out together. Misao’s record was just under thirty seconds. 

“One of these days I’m going to remember to bring a gavel whenever I’m out with you two, just so that I can get the conversation back on track,” the young doctor muttered, “Or possibly so that I can hit you. I’m a doctor; I know where many important pressure points are located.”

“Sorry, Megumi!” Kaoru said, still giggling slightly. “Umm... what were we talking about?”

“Whether or not Sano and Katsu have decided what to do about one of them getting a business degree. I think that it’s going to end up being Sano, just because Katsu’s spare time is taken up with that community newsletter he’s been trying to get off the ground. Anyway, if the two of you felt like casually mentioning that you think a business degree would be a good idea when you see him again, I would appreciate it.”

“What, you mean sidle up to him and give him our best Mae West-style, ‘I love a man with an advanced degree in accounting’ look?” Misao teased. 

“No,” Megumi returned, “Just, you know, if the subject comes up, or if you’re talking about work, then, you know, ask him about the business aspects of running a bar or something.” She sipped her drink again and took a brownie in one perfectly-manicured hand. “Cunning schemes don’t work half so well if the other person knows it’s a scheme, Misao. You need to be subtle about these things.” 

“Would it be sufficiently subtle for me to point at the clock and make an observation about when that faculty meeting was supposed to be over?” Kaoru asked. “I still have some crucial tabulation and alphabetizing to take care of. The fate of the free world may depend upon it, or at least my personal fate for the rest of the week.”

Misao sighed. “Fine, just give us five minutes to demolish the last brownie and finish the coffee, ok? Then we will return you to the blackboard jungle, I will raid Megumi’s romance novel collection for something decent, and I will see you on Friday. Does that work?”

“Yes, that would be fine. Thanks, guys; I really appreciate the break.” That was very true; in addition, she had to admit to herself that coffee with Megumi and Misao was a welcome breath of normality in her life, something that helped keep her grounded in the face of recent demonic aggravation. As long as her friends and relations could still kidnap her for coffee, nothing could be that horribly out of balance with her world.

* * *

The meeting with Mr. Fujita had taken somewhat longer than she had hoped, but it had gone fairly well nonetheless. Her supervisor apparently had some arcane system that he used to divide up the grading work; it wasn’t exactly alphabetical, but seemed to be based on ensuring that every student would get graded by both of them a certain number of times during the school year. She wasn’t entirely sure, but she also suspected that he had wanted to make sure that she didn’t get stuck with any real problem students for the first major exam. She could understand that, as long as she got to work with everybody eventually. Kaoru sighed as she looked at the stack of papers on her desk. Now she just had to order her traditional “I’ve got tests to grade” Chinese take-out for dinner, and prepare to spend a quiet evening at home with the answer key and her red pen.

Ah, the exciting life of an assistant teacher.

She hummed to herself as she left the classroom, locking it carefully behind her. Not that she thought anybody would break in; who on earth would try to break into a...

“You know,” a calm voice said from over by another door, “you seem to have the strangest habit of staying late at school.”

She jerked her head up with a start. Kenshin was leaning against the door across the hallway, giving her a look that was somewhere between amused and speculative.

“It’s not that late, and I work here,” she retorted, “Unlike some people, who have no reason to be in the building.”

Answering her unspoken question, Kenshin said, “Well, I had some work to do in the neighborhood.”

“Work?” Kaoru interrupted. “What do you mean, you had work to do?”

He shrugged. “Various things that I need to take care of. At the moment it’s mostly tracking some things down that I need for later. Anyway, I saw that Sano’s car happened to be in the parking lot. Since I figured that he was unlikely to be here, it made sense that it was you.”

“Well, now that you’ve solved that mystery, you can go to... wherever you go when you’re not breaking into public buildings.” Kaoru retorted. _‘Tracking some things down... and now he’s here.... This is a different school building, so he can’t have thought that I hid the sword here in the first place... what did he think, that I would have brought the sword to work with me, the better to keep the students in line? Clearly, he has never met my supervisor, because then he would realize that any intimidation from me would be entirely superfluous.... ’_

Considering her options, Kaoru had to conclude that this had the potential for being a very bad situation. Alone, with a demon, in school... again... and at any minute, he was probably going to start interrogating her with questions like... 

“Can I help you carry anything?” Kenshin asked, breaking her train of thought.

She blinked. Had he just asked... “No,” Kaoru said, looking at him in confusion. 

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

“Do you have plans for dinner already?”

“Do I... _what?_ ” Kaoru demanded, aghast. This was taking things too far, acting as if he was... just because he wanted to get his sword back; flowers were one thing, even magical reappearing flowers, but this... this was...

“Listen, you... you... “ she found that she was too angry to put together a good insult. Stalking across the hallway, she brandished the test papers at him. He made no response except to raise one eyebrow as she yelled at him, eyes flashing.

“I don’t appreciate this! I don’t appreciate _any_ of... of the idiotic things that you’ve been doing, trying to act as if you’re...” She was so close now that she could see the way his eyes were sparking amber, and she was having a very hard time not whacking him over the head with the stack of tests she was carrying.

He opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something, but she ignored him and continued her rant.

“You...you suddenly show up, in the company of one of my _friends_ , and now...now you seem to think that I’m some sort of idiot who will just start fluttering her eyelashes at you like those morons back in high school...”

“I don’t think that you’re...”

“ _YES YOU DO!!_ ” Kaoru knew that she was yelling, but she didn’t care. The stress of this week, the revival of things she’d thought long-buried, literally and figuratively, the nervousness of not knowing what was going to happen next... she really didn’t care how loud she was. “I know _exactly_ what you’re after, and, let me tell you, you are not going...”

There was no warning; between one breath and the next, Kaoru suddenly found herself pressed against the door Kenshin had oh-so-casually been leaning against, his hands on her upper arms, his body leaning towards hers so that she was fairly well pinned. She could feel the warmth of him, could practically feel the beating of his heart he was so close...

He was leaning against her, his long red bangs falling forward against her skin. Kaoru jerked in startlement as she felt his breath against her neck.

“No,” Kenshin breathed, “I really don’t think that you have any idea, kitten... no idea at all...”

Kaoru opened her mouth to say something, but all words left her as Kenshin delicately ran his tongue along the pulse that beat steadily in her neck before placing his lips there, running a series of light kisses up the arch of her throat. Her breath caught as he returned to the base of her neck, this time oh-so-delicately using his teeth in a way that made the pulse under his mouth jump.

If it hadn’t been for the solidity of the door behind her, Kaoru was sure her head would have fallen all the way back, and she really had no idea what, other than the firm weight of Kenshin pressed against her, was keeping her upright.

She tried to say his name, but what emerged was more of a faint, hungry whimpering noise, a sound she hadn’t even known she could make before. She could feel Kenshin’s smile curving against her neck at the sound of it, then he planted one final, nibbling line of kisses down to the hollow at the base of her throat, where he lingered briefly, memorizing its contours with his tongue as she stifled a gasp.

When he pulled back, she blinked up at him with dazed eyes, noting the way his own had darkened to a rich amber color, the way that Kenshin too was breathing hard as he looked at her.

They stood there for a moment, and she honestly couldn’t have said what would have happened next, what she wanted to happen next, when the noise of a group of students leaving the gym broke the moment. Kenshin backed away with the same suddenness as his earlier movements, and Kaoru, after a moment when she realized she had no idea what to do, no clue what to say and, above all, no desire for the students who were about to turn the corner to see her like this, did the only thing she could think of.

She bolted.

* * *

Once the students had gone, Kenshin stepped out of the shadows he had hidden himself in.

He could still taste her skin on his tongue, sweetness and fire and jasmine, could almost still sense the feel of her pulse as it leapt against his mouth.

It wasn’t something that he had planned, this encounter, as much as it was something he had wanted for such a very long time. 

Somehow, Kenshin found it very hard to regret his actions, even though he logically knew that they might cause him problems in the near future. 

_‘It was still worth it,’_ he thought with a faint smile as he exited the school and headed out into the darkness.

He had, after all, always been excited by the thought of a challenge.

Now, to decide what his next move should be...

Kenshin’s thoughts were interrupted by an insistent and cheerful ringing noise that he eventually identified as coming from his jacket pocket, from a phone that he knew hadn’t been there when he’d headed over to the school. He pulled the cell phone out and raised one eyebrow as he saw the number listed on the screen. 

Sighing reluctantly, he flipped the phone open and said, “You know, if you wanted me to get a cell phone, you could have just asked instead of... Yes. Starting tomorrow. What? No, it won’t. No, I _really_ don’t think that.... Yes, Master, of course I know...No, you don’t have to tell me again.... ” Finally giving up, Kenshin settled for making occasional affirmative noises as the man on the other end of the phone continued his monologue, ignoring Kenshin’s annoyed tone of voice as smoothly as he’d ignored his words earlier. At the end of the conversation, when a longer pause indicated that it was time for him to respond, Kenshin said, “I wouldn’t expect it to take more than a week.... yes, I know how important... yes, I’ll report back to you when there are any further developments....” Opening his mouth to say something else, Kenshin closed it abruptly as he realized that he had been hung up on.

Well, that had definitely killed whatever mood he’d been in. Kenshin idly wondered what would happen if he “accidentally” put the phone under the car’s wheels and ran over it. Probably another aggravated phone call as soon as he’d managed to fall asleep. Every night for the next month or so.

Sometimes, he thought, his Master could be ridiculously petty. Not that he would ever say that out loud, of course.

As he drove out of the parking lot, Kenshin went back to mentally running over the list of things he had to take care of in the next several days. He had gotten a good portion of it out of the way that afternoon, and as long as he got up early enough the next morning, he should be able to keep things moving along right on schedule. Well, he amended, feeling the way Kaoru’s taste and scent still lingered on his lips, mostly on schedule. Then again, every good plan needed a certain degree of flexibility. 

Right now, he decided, he needed to go over to the bar and talk with Sano.

It was time to call in a favor or two.

* * *

Kaoru didn’t think that she had ever driven back to her apartment as fast as she did after she’d bolted out of the school. Although, since technically she’d just moved into her new apartment, and had only had a car for two days, there really wasn’t much to compare it with. 

What was definite, though, was the way that the tires on Sano’s car were squealing whenever she rounded a corner, and the fact that she got home a good ten minutes sooner than normal.

As she practically ran up the stairs, Kaoru found that she had to slow down and catch her breath, which was still leaning more towards panting than normal breathing. Taking several slow, cleansing breaths, Kaoru closed her eyes and worked on centering herself and calming down.

_‘I expected that Kenshin would go for the jugular, but I didn’t think that that meant he ...well... that hadn’t been what I... I mean, that’s not supposed to be the sort of thing...’_

Clearly, the cleansing breaths weren’t working, and she was going to have to move on to something else. The tests were dumped onto her desk as Kaoru moved into the kitchen in search of something she could wreak culinary havoc with. Cooking would require all of her concentration and eating the results would distract her from her other troubles. Unfortunately, all she really had in the apartment were things that could be heated up in the microwave. Shopping for groceries, unsurprisingly, hadn’t been a high priority since she’d moved in.

As she watched her TV dinner spinning around slowly in the microwave, Kaoru tried another set of cleansing breaths and tried to work through what had just happened.

_‘Ok... Kenshin came to school, supposedly because he just happened to be in the neighborhood and spotted Sano’s car. I think that we can safely assume that to be a lie...or at least less of a coincidence than he was trying to make it sound like. He knows where I work... and where I live.... so if he was looking for me, Sano’s car would in fact have been a good indication as to where I was. ‘_

The microwave interrupted her thoughts with a series of insistent beeps, and Kaoru carefully took out her dinner and carried it over to her usual perch on the couch. It was a TV dinner, after all, and so she felt the need to enjoy it in its natural habitat.

Channel surfing turned up nothing of interest, so she eventually settled on a random home decorating program as good background noise while she continued to work through the evening’s events.

_‘Kenshin kissed me. Well, sort of. Well, definitely, just not on the lips, I guess. Which makes no sense, because kissing me means that he wasn’t asking questions or making threats..._

_**Why** wasn’t he asking questions or making threats? Not that he could have expected that I would tell him anything, even under threat of various painful things, but I would have thought he would have at least tried rather than acting like...’_

Suddenly, her eyes widening, Kaoru yelled, “Kenshin, you rat bastard!” Looking down, she realized that her outburst had resulted in Alfredo sauce splattering across the coffee table. Glaring at her fork as if it was responsible for her current problems, Kaoru put it down and went to get a paper towel.

She gritted her teeth. Kenshin was... was... _unbelievable_!

_‘That.. that... .treating me like I’m some kind of Bond film bimbo, and all he needs to do is back me into a corner and breath on me and I’ll just melt at his feet and suddenly do anything he wants me to do, and give up the location of the secret headquarters or new super-weapon or.. or... well, I mean, except for the fact that Bond, James Bond is the good guy, and the women he seduces to get answers are usually working for the bad guys, or at least dating them, and I don’t even **know** anybody who owns a white Persian cat... And in this case, it’s a bad guy trying to seduce the location of the secret weapon out of one of the good guys. Which he is _not_ going to get. Because I am now aware of his strategy, and, as Megumi said, cunning schemes don’t work if the other person knows about them...’_

Her spine stiffened with a new resolution, Kaoru determinedly cleaned off the coffee table and finished her dinner. 

She had been prepared for threats and interrogations and possible painful attempts on Kenshin’s part to discover what she had done with the sword she had taken away. Just because he had decided on a... _different_ approach to solving his weapons problem didn’t change her determination. Not even a little bit. And if he thought that it had... well, he was going to be in for a shock.

She, Kaoru Kamiya, Assistant Master of the Kamiya Kasshin School, was not the sort of girl who could be intimidated, threatened, and certainly _not_ seduced into helping the forces of evil, especially cute red-haired forces of evil who brought her flowers and stole her bicycle after she’d already had to kill them once.

And, with a resolute nod, Kaoru took her dishes over to the sink. 

No matter what he tried, she could handle it. 

Because she knew what Kenshin was capable of.

And there was no way she was going to allow it to happen again.

No matter what.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In this chapter I do not own: The song “Trouble (with a capital “T”)” from “The Music Man, or, sadly, “Batman: The Mask of the Phantasm,” which was the full-length movie from “Batman: The Animated Series,” released back in the early 1990s. It’s out on DVD, and I highly recommend it. Really. It is just beautifully done, in terms of both the writing and the visuals. I also don’t own the wacky, wacky 1966 “Batman” movie, which is...well, the sort of movie where Our Stalwart Heroes are saved from death by helicopter crash because there’s a store that happens to be having a giant parking-lot clearance sale on foam rubber. Nor do I own a white Persian cat, or any of the Bond films where Ernst Bloefeld, head of SPECTRE, drags his around with him. And I don’t own Alannis Morrisette’s song “Uninvited,” where the chapter title comes from. With all these things I don’t own, it’s amazing how cluttered my apartment gets.
> 
> Note: The GED is the equivalency test/degree that you can take in lieu of getting your high school diploma in the U.S.
> 
> Next Chapter: Having finally read the story summary, Kaoru threatens the author with her bokken in order to get it changed. Doesn’t help.


	10. Moving Daze

Kaoru woke up the next morning from a very confusing dream in which a fox with her cousin’s face had run up and down the trunk of a tree whose roots were made of bones. Yahiko had been juggling teacups, with tea in them, and stridently insisting that he was old enough now to decide if he wanted milk or a lemon slice without any help from the cat. Sano and Katsu were playing badminton with a set of shuttlecocks that Katsu kept insisting were meant for personal defense only. Mr. Fujita, who was supposed to be refereeing the match, was reading a set of encyclopedias in an attempt to find a name for his sword, which glittered with blue sparks along the blade as it lay next to a half-eaten bowl of soba that Kaoru was sure she hadn’t cooked. Crows—unless they were ravens—circled overhead, quoting poetry in harsh voices. She knew that there was something important that she was supposed to do, but when she turned around to look at her list, Kenshin, who was sitting cross-legged in a patch of bluebells the colors of his eyes, was making corrections to it with a red pen and wouldn’t give it back. When Kaoru had tried to get Megumi to help her, she’d simply flicked fox-ears at her and hidden in the branches, where she’d started making a noise like an alarm clock...

Kaoru blinked sleepily as she re-adjusted to the waking world. It was at times like this that she was glad that she usually didn’t remember her dreams. _‘Now I’m going to wonder what it is I’m supposed to be doing all day... and bluebells aren’t supposed to be golden, darn it, because then they’d be called something else!’_

On the plus side, the scent of fresh coffee was wafting in from the kitchen, just waiting to clear the cobwebs out of her brain. On mornings like this, she liked to take time to quickly drink her first cup before she took a shower. She’d tried to figure out a way to juggle both activities, but after some distressing soapsuds-related incidents, had decided that even those covered, spillproof mugs weren’t designed to handle every conceivable circumstance.

_‘Now that would be a useful project,’_ Kaoru thought as she hummed to herself and added milk and sugar to her mug, _‘Waterproof coffee mugs.... or maybe some sort of self-contained pouch with a straw coming out of it.... excellent for showers, rainstorms, and scuba-diving expeditions...‘_

Looking over her wardrobe, Kaoru immediately grabbed a dark blue turtleneck to wear under her blazer. She felt the need to be as covered up as possible, in case... in case... _certain people_ expected to be able to get away with... _certain things_... She rolled her eyes. _‘Great, now I’m so embarrassed that I’m resorting to euphemisms... Idiot. Let’s try this again. I am wearing this turtleneck because Kenshin, who I hope I never see again, needs to be sent a clear signal that he can’t just.... that he’s not allowed to... ‘_

Suddenly, Kaoru found herself remembering the exact specifics of just what her wardrobe was supposed to tell Kenshin that he was not allowed to do, and she barely saved herself from a distressing coffee-related wardrobe incident.

_‘Stupid demons and their stupid neck-related habits,’_ she thought grouchily.

It was absolutely unfair that he had done that, she decided. In fact, she was fairly sure it was against some unwritten rule or something. At least, she thought, trying to look on the bright side, she could develop a strategy for future incidents. Not that there were going to be future incidents. Ever. 

_‘But that doesn’t mean that I can’t develop a set of strategies as a purely preventive measure to counter any ideas he might have about getting information out of me that way. Like that thing where if you bring along an umbrella, it won’t rain, and you’ll spend the whole day carrying around an umbrella and feeling like an idiot. I just need to think about what to do if he tries something like that again... without getting caught up in what he did last time... just focus on the violent retribution part, Kaoru....’_

Over breakfast, Kaoru continued her project of looking through the used car ads, circling things that sounded like they weren’t going to fall apart the minute she’d gotten them home. She was still planning on borrowing Sano from Megumi on Saturday to check out the top five vehicular candidates, so that she could give his car back to him as soon as possible.

Not that it was a bad car... if you didn’t count the bumper stickers.... Kaoru had been trying to not think about the bumper stickers while she was driving the car to and from school. In fact, if the bumper hadn’t been one of the definitely important parts of the car, she would have considered removing it and leaving it at home.

Putting everything she needed into her bag, Kaoru headed out to the parking lot. She was halfway to the car before she realized that she was automatically glancing around and looking for any sign of red hair...

_‘Dammit! Idiot!’_ she thought fiercely, and wasn’t even sure if she was referring to him or herself. She rubbed at the side of her neck unconsciously, and decided that she definitely meant him.

It was a load off her mind when she reached school, found a parking space under a tree, where she could back the car into the spot—she generally preferred double spots where she could pull through and then park, but was making an exception as long as she was borrowing Sano’s car—and reached her classroom not only punctually enough to suit Mr. Fujita but without being accosted in any way by anybody.

Since it was the day after a test, Mr. Fujita was graciously allowing the fourth period class to spend their period watching a video about the periodic table and atomic structure. The part where they showed why it was a bad idea to mix sodium and water went over particularly well. 

One of the other classes was dividing into groups to work on individual projects that would take the rest of the semester, so Kaoru spent the time circulating and checking to make sure that they were talking about things that both reasonably scientific and topical, interrupting several conversations that, while they might be considered to be on the subject of biology, were not really project-related.

* * *

After school, while she was straightening out her desk area, Mr. Fujita casually asked, “So, Ms Kamiya, how are the tests so far?”

For several horrified seconds, Kaoru couldn’t remember what on earth he was talking about. Fortunately, before her brain could stop it, her mouth had opened and she heard herself say, “Oh, well, about as expected, I guess. I mean, at this point in the semester, you can guess who will review and who won’t, and that’s reflected in the test scores...”

Meanwhile, Kaoru’s brain had scrambled and remembered what tests were being talked about. The tests from yesterday. The ones that she was supposed to be grading last night. 

The ones which she could clearly remember flinging down onto the desk as she stomped around her apartment, alternating between thinking of horrible things to do to Kenshin and finding herself unable to forget the things Kenshin had been doing to her.

_‘Oh.... crap... I didn’t do any... I was supposed to... they’re due back to him by Friday, and now....’_ she thought disconnectedly. How was she going to explain this if he asked for specific....

“What are your grade statistics working out to be, Ms Kamiya?” Surely, she was imagining that wolfish, knowing gleam in his eyes. It could not possibly be that obvious that her babble had been bluff.

“I... well, actually,” she said, struck by inspiration and the memory of her high school English teacher, “I’m reading all of them through before I assign actual grades. Right now, it’s more like a set of Post-It Notes stuck all over the tests, with suggested grades. If you want general impressions... I would say, mostly Bs, a couple of As, some Cs... I don’t think I’m going to have to fail anybody...” she trailed off, hopefully.

Leaping on her last statement, Mr. Fujita sternly remonstrated, “Nonsense. Ms Kamiya, you have got to learn that bad papers must be dealt with quickly and appropriately. It makes no sense to coddle students, or assume that they’re going to learn anything by being overly nice to them. Grade inflation is not a laughing matter! Students nowadays...” he took a deep breath and stopped, clearly bringing himself back under control.

Kaoru stared, and was sure her eyes were wide. _’Oh yes, definitely with a sword...’_ she thought as a fragment of her dream drifted randomly across her memory. Then she remembered the actual topic of conversation.

_‘This is probably suicidal, but....’_ Taking a deep breath, she plunged back in. “Yes... I admit that I have trouble being as hard as I probably should when it comes to grading. That’s one of the reasons for the Post-It Note system, to make sure that I’m not grading wildly out of sync.”

That last part was actually true; while she had yet to implement the fabulous Post-It Note system, courtesy of a brainstorming effort between herself, Misao, and a large pitcher of strawberry daiquiris, it was definitely a plan. For whenever she graded those tests. Which she should have already been doing.

_‘Thank goodness they weren’t supposed to be completely done today! ‘I’m so sorry, Mr. Fujita, but a demon was molesting my neck in the school hallway, and it was...very.... very... distracting. And then he stole my pen.... except that I might have been dreaming that last part... Whoops, he’s started talking again...’_

“...Friday and we can go over any tests you’re uncertain about before I look all of them over over the weekend.”

Kaoru nodded, relieved that the subject seemed to be closed and she had not gotten detention. Or... well, whatever non-detention things happened to assistant teachers who failed to complete assignments. 

* * *

As she pulled into her apartment complex parking lot, eyes searching for another spot she could back into and mentally chanting Sano’s name so that she would remember to call him to set up a car-shopping time as soon as she got home, she was startled to see Sano himself strolling out of the building.

_‘Oh, great, I’m hallucinating roosters again... the stuff that’s been going on must be affecting me more than I realized ‘_ she thought before Sano waved and called her name and headed over to where she was parking.

“Hey, missy! Just getting home from work?” he asked.

“What gives it away? The briefcase? Or the professional-but-not-stuffy outfit that your girlfriend dragged me through five stores to find last Fall?” Kaoru retorted. “What are you doing here in the middle of the day, Sano? Umm... do you need your car back?” 

He turned with her and started walking back towards the complex with her, slowing his long strides to match her own.

“Nah, don’t worry... you’ve got it until you get your own, not a problem. I’m here because, once again, I’ve gotten recruited for moving duty.”

Kaoru giggled slightly at the put-upon expression on his face, because he was so obviously faking it. “Well, feel free to stop by for tea and whatever I can throw together afterwards. Or we can order Chinese, if you’d rather... unless whoever you’re moving has already promised pizza and beverages, in which case, I might haul a couple of boxes myself just so I don’t have to cook. Who is it, another of Megumi’s friends?”

“Nope, for once this is not one of Megumi’s med school buddies. In fact, it’s...”

Before he could finish, a cheerful, “Hey! Sano! Kaoru!” rang out from near a small moving van Kaoru hadn’t seen when she pulled in.

Kenshin was standing there, grinning and holding a fishtank.

Kaoru stopped short, suddenly feeling as if all the air had been forced out of her lungs.

“So...” she said, trying to keep her voice level. It had to be... there was no way... “Kenshin got recruited for moving duty again, too?”

Sano chuckled, “Well, he’d better be hauling boxes; it’s his new place... he said he’s been looking for a while; didn’t know you were going to be moving in when he signed the lease...”

“Uh-huh...” Kaoru said, distractedly, trying to remember what she could possibly have done in a previous life to deserve this and wishing that she had paid more attention to the things written in her high school bathroom, because she was feeling seriously vocabulary-deprived when it came to expressing how she felt about the situation she suddenly found herself confronted with.

She blinked suddenly as she realized that Kenshin had made his way over to where the two of them were standing. Absently, she wondered what kind of fish a demon would keep in his apartment, and if they counted as pets or snacks.

“Hey, Kenshin! Kaoru said she’d treat us to beer and Chinese food after we’re done moving you in; isn’t that great?”

Focusing on the one word that had leapt out at her, Kaoru’s response was immediate and instinctive. “Hey! Sanosuke Sagara, what makes you think that I’m buying you beer! I never... said... that...” she trailed off as she suddenly registered the entirety of Sano’s casual sentence.

_‘Oh... oh...... bowdlerized son of an expurgated deletion, that... he... now they’re both... Kenshin’s going to be... and... I wonder if I can claim to be coming down with a case of bubonic plague?’_

From the expression in his eyes, she was pretty sure that Kenshin not only knew exactly what was going through her mind, but that he was enjoying the show immensely.

Setting her jaw, Kaoru gave a grin that was almost as toothy as anything Kenshin could manage and said sweetly, “Oh, well, for _two_ friends, I would hate to think of you eating plain take-out. Actually, I was thinking that I could cook.”

Sano blanched, but gamely responded, “Oh...well. Kaoru... you know... you just moved and... well, I would.... we would hate to put you to the trouble, right, Kenshin?” The look he gave the red-haired man was almost desperate.

Kenshin, whose eyes had never left Kaoru’s face, smoothly said, “I’m impressed; I didn’t think that you’d had time to get any shopping done since you’ve been here.”

While Kaoru gaped at him and tried to come up with a response that didn’t involve automatically using her briefcase to wipe that smug grin off his face, Sano seized on Kenshin’s words like a lifeline.

“You haven’t grocery shopped yet?” he said hopefully. “Wow... Megumi’s going to give you another lecture about taking proper nutritional care of yourself...”

“I don’t need a lecture, Sano, and I was _going_ to shop as soon as...” Kaoru grimaced as she realized that she had now confirmed that she had no food in the apartment.

“Well then, Chinese food it is!” Kenshin declared. “My treat, of course. Your cooking dinner will just have to be a raincheck, I suppose. Hey, Sano, can you grab those last boxes of books? I want to get the fishtank set up.”

“Sure, Kenshin! Well, Kaoru, see you for dinner... of course, feel free to help carrying things between now and then if you have time!” the taller man replied, heading off towards the moving van.

“If you still have tests to grade, don’t worry about helping with the boxes,” Kenshin assured her the minute Sano had left.

Kaoru, who had been secretly hoping Kenshin would ask her to carry something like his dishes... or glasses... or a collection of very expensive and hard-to-replace wines.... opened her mouth to volunteer before she remembered that there was a stack of tests sitting on her desk, calling her name in loud, insistent, inky voices.

“I have tests to grade,” she said. Inspiration struck. “In fact, I’m going to be grading all night; you really should just...”

Kenshin cut her off mid-sentence. “That’s a shame! Well, we’ll bring over the Chinese food once we’ve gotten it and you can take a well-deserved break over dinner. You won’t even have to worry about cooking it.”

With that, he was off without waiting for her response.

Kaoru stared after him, so caught up in wondering if she could legitimately claim an urgent need to flee across state lines between now and dinner that it took her a while to realize that part of her brain was trying to point out that Kenshin’s jeans fit just as well as they had in high school...

_‘AGGHHHHHH!!!!’_

As she was heading up the stairs to her apartment—actually, stomping up the stairs--she looked up and saw Kenshin, who was coming back down.

Kaoru froze. Alone, in a stairwell, with someone who had already shown that he... that he would...

She switched her grip so that she was holding her briefcase in front of her like a shield. Or possibly a club. Then she quickened her steps, practically jogging up the stairs.

_‘Double-time, hup, hup, hup, don’t look up, up, up....’_ she chanted, keeping her eyes focused on the stairs, the empty wrappers, a water stain that looked like Elvis in his Vegas jumpsuit, and a pair of black leather shoes...

He was standing right in front of her. Not moving. And, if his feet were anything to go by, perfectly relaxed and undisturbed.

There was silence for a moment, then Kaoru growled, “Out of my way, you _idiot_!”

Kenshin’s laughter rang out, and Kaoru, startled, looked up to see him with his head thrown back, as the richly masculine sound echoed in the stairwell. Then he looked down at her, flashed her a cheerful grin that did nothing to make her feel better about the fangs issue and said, “You know, kitten, you’ve said that before.”

“And I’ll say it again. You are in my way; MOVE!!!” she spat. _‘Why oh why didn’t I spend my childhood years trying to develop laser vision the way that Yahiko did? Granted, his experiments were inconclusive, but I would have had a lot more practice than him by now, and it would be so much more useful than those cooking lessons from Grandma...’_

As she glared, something in his expression went from amused to considering. Cocking his head at her, Kenshin took the tiniest of steps closer... at least she thought it was a tiny step, although he was suddenly much, much closer. He looked her up and down, still with that considering, thoughtful look on his face, and said, “Tell, me, kitten, would you believe me right now if I said trust me, I’m not going to hurt you?”

“No,” she snarled through gritted teeth, eyes flashing.

“Smart girl,” he murmured approvingly, and reached his hand up to touch her cheek.

Fortunately, before Kenshin could do anything that would give Kaoru a chance to test her theory that a demon would be less likely to go for her neck if she and her briefcase went for his nose, Sano’s solid tread was heard on the stairs above them. Kenshin drew back his hand and stepped away, turning so that he could continue his descent.

Before he headed back down past her, Kenshin remarked in a studiedly bland voice that was worse than any insinuation, “Isn’t it a little warm out to be wearing a turtleneck, Kaoru? Did... something happen to your neck?”

“No,” she said through gritted teeth, wondering if she should try out her theory just once to see if it worked. A practice run never hurt anybody.... Kaoru shook herself away from that terribly tempting thought and continued, “ _Nothing_ is wrong with my neck, thank you very much, Kenshin, and good luck with moving.”

With that, she turned and prepared to stomp past him. 

As she went by, he murmured in a husky voice, “Pity... well, maybe next time, then...”

But by the time she turned around to shriek or brain him, he was already gone, and not even his shadow remained on the stairs.

* * *

Several hours later, Kaoru had lost herself in a sea of exam questions and Post-It Notes. Mostly for her own amusement, she had also started keeping a list of the most ridiculous answers. She was thinking about giving out prizes, but had decided that that would probably count as overly damaging to the students’ self-esteem.

Better just let Mr. Fujita do it, then.

Since she only had one night to grade the entire batch of exams, she had brewed a pot of coffee strong enough to waddle from the kitchen to the living room by itself, thrown on her most comfortable clothes, stuck her hair up into a messy bun, and put on _Heavy Classics Vol. I and II_ as appropriately heroic grading music.

She was swooping her pen around to “Ride of the Valkyries,” occasionally darting back to scribble a comment or circle something, when there was a pounding knock at her door that she could have identified in her sleep.

Actually, come to think of it, there had been many occasions in college when she _had_ identified it in her sleep.

As she opened the door, Kaoru was already starting her standard “What, Sano, do you want; I’m in the middle of... a) sleep, b) work, c) dinner” speech, her mind still very much on the pile of exams on her desk rather than the two men in front of her.

Wait... two?

Her brain finally caught up with the fact that Kenshin was standing behind Sano, holding two large bags full of take-out containers, only when both of them were already inside of the apartment.

_‘Shouldn’t there be something about having to invite demons in before they can enter? Although I suppose that’s vampires. Drat. Maybe I can just put up a sign, “All Demons and other Evil Entities Unwelcome; Please Go Away,” like Dad did for the snakes in Mom’s garden...’_

“Never fear; the food has arrived!” Sano proclaimed, pointing to the take-out bags. “Hey, Missy, you do have plates and silverware and stuff unpacked, right?”

Distracted by the fact that her stomach was literally growling at the smell of food, Kaoru replied, “Umm... yes, cupboards, hang on... why are you here?”

“Sheesh, Missy; those exams must really be frying your brain. Kenshin”—he pointed at the red-headed man—“and I”—he pointed ostentatiously at himself “in keeping with our earlier agreement, have come bearing Chinese food.”—he pointed at the bag—“In celebration of Kenshin’s successful move into his new apartment,”—a grand gesture that Kaoru supposed was supposed to be an abstract interpretation of the concept of apartment, or possibly movement, -- “and your... um... not being devoured alive by Post-It Notes. Yet. Um... Kaoru, are those actually supposed to be part of your sweatshirt?”

Looking down, Kaoru realized that she was indeed festooned with more of the sticky little pieces of paper than she had realized. She wasn’t even sure how they’d gotten there, and decided that Sano’s theory of Killer Attack Post-Its had a frightening degree of merit to it.

She immediately went back over to her desk and removed the offending notes, and by the time she got back, Kenshin and Sano had set up the Chinese food, claimed the couch, and put on a movie Kaoru didn’t recognize. It was a murder mystery, with a doe-eyed heroine who catapulted from one perilous situation to another in her attempts to right the wrongs done to her family, including but not limited to theft, slander, murder, bad wardrobe advice, wrongful imprisonment, and murder.

Kaoru, who was busy grading papers in spite of knowing that bringing her exams over to the coffee table and grading them once dinner was done wasn’t going to be enough of a hint to Sano that he was intruding on her work time and should go home and bother Megumi, was only half paying attention to the film. Occasionally she would look up and voice comments like, “That’s an incredibly unfortunate hat,” “Get your feet off of those exams!” or “If only they’d heard of the Law of Economy of Character, they could have solved this in the first twenty minutes...”

Kenshin grinned and replied, “Yes, but then we wouldn’t have gotten to see any of those dresses that looked like they’d... how did you put it? Raided the clearance rack at the Barnum and Bailey Store.... good God, that woman appears to be wearing a dead badger on her head...”

Kaoru stifled a giggle, then scowled at herself as she tried to get back into Exam Mode. She was starting to realize that she had planned things all wrong; now that she was clearly successfully grading while the movie was playing, she could hardly justify kicking the other two out so that she could successfully grade.

_‘Curses, foiled again.... This is what comes of forgetting that Rooster Boy wouldn’t recognize a subtle hint if it stripped naked, painted itself blue, and danced on top of the pianoforte singing “Subtle hints are here again...’_

The fact that she was able to sit calmly grading exams and half-watching a movie while Kenshin was in the room was something else that made Kaoru scowl. Shouldn’t the hairs on the back of her neck be standing up, or something like that? The atmosphere of the room, with Sano and Kenshin and Chinese food and a movie was oddly like hanging out with friends in college.

_‘What is the matter with me? Is it even something that’s the matter with me, or something that’s the matter with Kenshin? I mean.. back in high school, Kenshin.. Battousai.. whatever... he.. he **radiated** presence; you couldn’t _not_ notice him. I mean, that’s one of the things that attracted those morons, like moths to a flame... and now... he’s just so.. normal? Deceptively harmless, considering everything I know about him? Except when he’s not being harmless... But right now.. it’s like he’s just some ordinary friend of Sano’s who is crashed on my couch after a hard day of moving boxes and furniture and fishtanks...’_

Momentarily distracted by the heroine’s long, involved speechifying, Kaoru looked up and gave a disapproving snort, “Brainless dingbat. Gets herself all geared up to kill the villain who’s responsible for all the evils plaguing her ancestral, blah, blah, blah, and now she’s spending so long cataloging every wrong ever done to her that he’s going to be able to grab the –see, see; I told you! If she’s going to stab him, she shouldn’t TELL him about it, she should just get it over with and kill him and not waste...er...”

Suddenly remembering who half of her audience was, Kaoru trailed off into a horribly uncomfortable silence.

At least it was horribly uncomfortable for her. Sano, of course, was clueless, and Kenshin... well, she really didn’t want to turn around to see Kenshin’s expression. She would rather have faced theft, slander, and hats made out of assorted dead animals.

“That,” Kenshin remarked after a few seconds where Kaoru was hoping the floor would swallow her, preferably along with the exams so that she would have something amusing to read while she languished in Hell, “is remarkably clear-headed and practical advice. It’s exactly the sort of situation where people often waste time talking too much instead of acting.”

The strangled noise Kaoru managed to get her throat to produce in response was vaguely affirmative. Well, at least she thought it was.

She really needed a glass of water. Either to drink or to throw at herself; she hadn’t decided just yet.

* * *

Out in the kitchen, Kaoru settled on drinking the water. And trying to figure out a way to unravel the tangle her thoughts seemed to be in.

On the one hand, she really didn’t regret what she’d done, given the circumstances and... and the _other_ circumstances. On the other hand, making comments about spontaneously stabbing people in front of someone she’d...well, not spontaneously, but definitely without announcing it in advance or giving him any kind of warning, which was good, because if he’d had warning, well, that wouldn’t have worked out well, now would it?..but referring to it that way made it seem... 

She realized suddenly that she had the same uncomfortable feeling she’d always gotten when she was visiting her grandparents for one of their formal holiday dinners and found herself using the wrong fork. Like there was some kind of obscure etiquette about talking about certain subjects with demons you’d caused to inconveniently die, even if they seemed to have gotten over it in the meantime.

All at once, she was incredibly annoyed with herself. _‘This... of all the ridiculous... I’m worrying about **etiquette**? That insufferable, annoying, probably fanged, nuisance is out there making himself comfortable on my couch after making himself comfortable bothering me all week, and I’m worried that Miss Manners is going to send the Politeness Police after me? I really **do** need to throw a glass of water in my face...’_

Her embarrassment vanishing, Kaoru muttered a few more choice words at herself, put her glass down on the counter, and walked back to watch the denouement of the movie.

Well, she _would_ have walked back to watch the movie, if it weren’t for the fact that Kenshin was once again suddenly standing where she was sure nobody had been before, and before she could do more than register his presence, she found herself being yanked forward against him and his mouth was coming down to claim hers.

The few seconds of rational thought that Kaoru had were wasted as her brain tried to catch up with what had just happened. Even though he had pulled her so that she was pressed firmly up against the length of his body, unable to back away, it wasn’t a bruising kiss. Instead, his mouth moved against hers as if he was memorizing the taste of her lips, the way that she gasped slightly against him so that he could deepen their kiss and delicately stroke his tongue against the roof of her mouth. Impossibly, Kaoru found herself pressing closer to him, wanting to feel the way his heartbeat echoed through her, the way his muscles moved as he wrapped his arms around her waist and buried one hand in her hair, sending the pins that had loosely held her bun up scattering across the floor. She had no idea how long she clung to his shoulders, when she registered the warm feel of his hands against the skin of her back underneath her shirt, or when her own tongue had found its way past his lips, but a sudden yell of, “Hey! Kenshin! Guys? They’re about to storm the fortress!” brought reality crashing back in fragments that she had to work to reassemble.

The faint, careful, sharp pressure of the points of Kenshin’s teeth—‘ _Answers that question,’_ she thought dizzily-- against her lower lip as he pulled back threatened to make her knees give out all over again.

Kenshin seemed reluctant to move his arms, but as he stepped back, he called out, “Be right there! Just getting something to drink, and pointing out to Kaoru that she’s definitely right ... in some situations, it’s better to just act without talking about it forever first....” 

And with that, he was heading back out to the living room, leaving Kaoru dazed and blinking after him, the taste of him still lingering in her mouth. 

In the vast confusion dominating her brain, one thought came together and repeated itself loudly.

_‘How the HELL am I supposed to finish grading those exams **now**??’_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author’s Note: Kenshin clearly hasn’t read Kaoru’s list of Things He’s Not Allowed to Do. 
> 
> Auxiliary Author’s Note: OK, one of my fabulous reviewers over on FFN, Anne Novemberly, asked about everybody’s ages. That is an excellent question, which I have been skillfully avoiding. Except now that somebody has asked about it, I feel compelled to answer. 
> 
> Ages: Roughly speaking, I used the characters’ ages in the manga as their ages at the start of the story, based on the information in the “Kenshin Kaden,” which is the official guidebook (there are a couple of exceptions). Specifically, that means:
> 
> Kenshin Himura/Battousai: Unknown, and not talking about it.  
> Mr. Fujita: Likewise.
> 
> Kaoru Kamiya: When the story started, Kaoru was 17. She turned 18 in June of that year (according to the Kenshin Kaden, Kaoru’s birthday is in late June, so I stuck with that. Also according to the Kaden, Kenshin’s birthday is June 21st, which makes him a Gemini. Anybody who is surprised by this should go whap themselves on the head with a copy of Volume 2 of either the manga or the anime). This means that when she moves into her apartment, she’s 23, since it’s five years later and in the Fall. Now, some of you might wonder how it is that she’s gotten done with college and gotten a teaching internship when she’s so young! That is actually something that is going to come up later on, believe it or not. The short explanation is that Kaoru, who as we saw was very academic and not very social in high school, took a lot of Advanced Placement courses and possibly some actual college classes, so she started college with a fair number of credits towards her B.A. Then she took very high courseloads in college and may very well have been in some kind of joint BA/MA program. Long story short, Kaoru wanted to get through college and get a job as quickly as possible, so that’s what she worked towards. She has now gotten her BA and the only thing she has left to do before finishing the MA is the internship she has.
> 
> Yahiko Kamiya: Yahiko was 10 when the story started and is now 15. He’s in 9th grade.
> 
> Misao Makimachi: Misao is a year younger than Kaoru, give or take (her birthday is in November). She was 16 during their senior year, and is now 22 and working towards her MA in architecture. Yes, I left her as a year younger but put her in the same grade. My assumption is that she skipped a grade in elementary school. Her parents died and she moved in with her grandfather, and when she took the placement tests in her new school district, she ended up getting placed a grade higher.
> 
> Sanosuke Sagara: Sano, when we first meet him, is 25 (ie, two years older than Kaoru). Gives him plenty of time to drop out of school in his senior year, wander around the world for a while, then come back to the city to take up the job as a bouncer, leading to partial bar-ownership and so on.
> 
> Megumi Takani: Megumi is five years older than Kaoru, which means that she is 28 when we first see her (which isn’t until Kaoru is moving into her own apartment).
> 
> Kaoru and Yahiko’s dad is in his late forties.
> 
> Is that everybody? 
> 
> In this chapter I don’t own: Peter S. Beagle’s “The Last Unicorn,” Terry Pratchett’s “Johnny and the Dead,” anything by Edgar Allen Poe, David Palmer’s “Emergence,” “Blackadder’s Christmas Carol,” or that episode of “MacGyver” where he puts the explosive properties of sodium and water to good use. I also don’t own that episode of “Rurouni Kenshin” where Megumi spends time explaining to Kanryuu that she’s going to kill him before she tries it. Not that I think Hannya couldn’t have stopped her anyway, but each time I see that scene I find myself wanting to yell, “Just stab him already! Don’t keep talking about it! Just stab him!”


	11. If You Want to Make a Splash, Cherie

“This one?” 

”Hotel hooker.” 

“It is not THAT bad...” 

The only response Kaoru received was an archly raised eyebrow over one ocean-blue eye. 

“I mean, I admit that the skirt is a little bit...” 

“Kaoru, between the neckline and the hemline, that’s a dress that screams, “Back me up against a wall and....” 

_“Misao!!!”_

“I’m just saying, I know you want to look professional, but that doesn’t mean that you have to pick that particular profession....” Misao finished, holding her hands up in a placating gesture. 

“OK! All clear; how about this one?” Kaoru said, putting her first choice down and pulling another off the rack —she really didn’t think it was that bad, but she also knew that she had the fashion sense of a blind aardvark on acid... and that Misao had the pictures to prove it. 

”Recently ravished shepherdess.” Misao declared authoritatively. “General rule? Bows are not of the good. They may in fact represent the forces of darkness.” 

“This would be the unbearable darkness of sheep-herding?” 

“This would be the concrete darkness of you in a room full of teenagers looking like you escaped from Little Bo Peep’s School for Girls.” 

Kaoru hastily shoved the suit back. Now that she looked at it from Misao’s point of view, she could see where it was a bit... frilly. Just a tad. 

It really wasn’t her fault that she couldn’t concentrate, she told herself for the fifth time that morning. First of all, she had been up to all hours grading those damned exams, which meant that she was running on very little sleep. She had managed to nap in the afternoon, until Misao swung by to drag her out for their long-planned shopping and dinner expedition. Now she was trapped in the mall with Misao in full shopping-mode, with no way of getting out of it unless she had a doctor’s excuse or a darned good explanation. 

And, while she technically had a darned good explanation... well, there was no way that she was sharing it. With anybody. 

It had taken her long enough to forcibly shove last night’s kitchen interlude into the back corner of her mind so that she could focus on the exams. Which, frankly, hadn’t prevented her from slowly drifting back to wakefulness in the morning with her entire body tingling from the memory of how Kenshin’s arms had felt, the way that he’d smelled of ginger and something that she was pretty sure was almost- but not quite- like pine trees growing next to the ocean. 

She had needed two mugs of extra-strong coffee before she was ready to face that what was really bothering her wasn’t so much that she’d been passionately and thoroughly kissed by a demon. 

It was that she had been thoroughly and passionately kissing him back. 

She really wasn’t sure what to make of that fact. In her admittedly limited experience, being kissed could be.... well, sweet, and perfectly nice, and definitely something to do if the movie was really, really mind-numbingly boring, but the way that Kenshin had....and then the way that.... and especially that part where he’d.... 

Kaoru realized that Misao was talking again... well, actually, that Misao probably hadn’t stopped talking in the first place, and that she was still standing staring mindlessly at the rack of clothing. 

“Sorry; what?” Kaoru said apologetically, hoping that she hadn’t missed anything important. 

_‘Gimme an “f,” gimme an “o,” gimme a “c,” “u,” “s,”—what does that spell? Not giving the Weasel anything she can latch onto and ask inconvenient questions, that’s what that spells! Looked at rationally, it makes sense that evil demons would know how to do that sort of thing. They probably have to take courses.’_ Part of her brain commented that Kenshin had clearly gotten an “A,” possibly with bonus points, but she told it to go focus on images of the class projects she was about to have to grade, and it shut up. _‘And, well, you’re a perfectly normal, healthy young woman, so it makes sense, rationally, that you would respond. Nothing but hormones. Could have happened to anybody. Pure coincidence that it was you that time. Coincidence and... and.. skullduggery on his part, fitting with his evil schemes to get past your defenses and get you to help him with his nefarious plans. You just have to keep from being alone with him, and.. well, lay back and think of the fate of humanity in general... except without the laying back.... I shall stand up and remind myself that it does not matter HOW well he kisses, or what my hormones think about it; they don’t get to vote in this.’_

Having rationally dealt with her problem, Kaoru was able to take a deep breath and get back to the important matters at hand. Following Misao to the next rack of suits, Kaoru attempted to pick one that was bow-less, frill-less, and with an industrial-strength neckline. 

Before she could even get it out of the tangle of other suits, Misao firmly declared “East German bureaucrat” and pushed it back where it could remain safely hidden, possibly for the rest of time. 

Feeling like she was running out of options, and starting to get fed up with the entire clothes-shopping procedure, Kaoru suggested, “What about the pink one, over there on the end?” 

"My Aunt Mabel’s living room sofa.” 

“Remind me again why I’m going shopping with you?” Kaoru groaned heavily. 

“Because every time you try to go on your own, you start to get fed up with the entire clothes-shopping process and come home with books, CDs, and the occasional throw pillow, but NO actual new clothes. And,” she grinned manically, “also because you promised that if I helped you deal with the horrors of suit-shopping, you would let me pick out a date outfit, suitable for dinner, movie, and/or clubbing.” 

“Speaking of ‘clubbing,” Kaoru muttered under her breath as the smaller girl darted across the aisle and seemed to simultaneously pull out three different suits, in a plumy burgundy, a dark heather gray, and a navy blue with pale blue pinstripes. 

“Ok, you take these, and I’ll grab some blouses... what do you have at home... oh, never mind, you need new ones...” Misao chirped. 

“Hey! What makes you think that I need new blouses?” Kaoru retorted indignantly. 

Misao merely stared at Kaoru with a level gaze until the latter lowered her eyes and blushed faintly. 

After looking at the suit and blouse combinations with a practiced eye, Misao eliminated the burgundy on the grounds that it made Kaoru’s skin look too pale, and one of the blouses because it, in her words, had “a kind of Victorian schoolmistress dominatrix vibe that you really need leather and a horsewhip to pull off successfully.” 

Kaoru really wasn’t sure she wanted to know how her friend could state that so authoritatively. 

That left two blouses, and the gray and blue suits. Misao was in favor of Kaoru getting both of them, since two suits would certainly be useful. Kaoru wasn’t so sure that her budget could handle that, and said so, to which Misao declared that Kaoru should consider the dating outfit her Christmas and birthday present, and spend her money getting the suits instead. 

It was really terribly sweet, Kaoru thought, except for the fact that Misao kept referring to the other outfit as “bait.” 

* * *

Once the suits had been purchased and safely stowed in the car, the two girls went to grab a quick dinner at the mall food court and plot their next stops. Well, Misao plotted; Kaoru concentrated on her salad and drink and hoped that she could figure out a way to minimize the potential clothing disaster. 

‘Nothing too high, nothing too low, nothing too tight, nothing too flashy... basically, eliminate anything Misao would wear herself for a night out...’ 

Sipping her drink, Misao asked, “Hey, what’s the theme this year for Sano and Katsu’s Halloween Bash at Blue Mooney’s?” 

Kaoru furrowed her brow in thought and replied, “You’d have to ask Megumi. Last I knew, she was still finalizing arrangements for where she wanted the money to go this year, and they never pick a theme until she’s told them the specifics. Well, not since that year Katsu wanted to do a “Halloween amidst the flames of Hell” theme and didn’t know that Megumi had made arrangements for the profits to go to the burn unit.” 

Misao giggled. “That’s right; I had forgotten. Well, we’ve got a while, so I guess I don’t have to think about costumes just yet. I can devote all my attention to finding you something suitably fabulous for next week!” 

“Yay?” Kaoru muttered under her breath as Misao got up to dispose of the cups and napkins. 

Rejuvenated and re-caffeinated, they went to spend the remaining hours until the mall closed hitting Misao’s favorite boutique, where the petite girl proceeded to go through the shelves and racks like a whirlwind, her braid swinging as she pulled things out, looked them over, and either replaced them or handed them into Kaoru’s already overloaded arms. 

“Skirt or pants?” she demanded as she continued to scan the shelves. 

“Um...well... I don’t know...” Kaoru said, caught off guard. It really wasn’t the sort of thing that she spent a lot of time thinking about on a regular basis. 

“Right, we’ll try both, then...” Misao said, and proceeded to pull out a pair of black pants Kaoru was sure would have to be poured on and something that apparently couldn’t make up its mind whether it wanted to be a skirt or a very large belt. 

_‘Oh... oh, I knew that this was a bad idea....’_ Kaoru groaned internally. All of Misao’s choices so far hit at least one of Kaoru’s “No, no, no” list, but her protests were falling on deaf ears. 

Deciding that she could at least mollify her friend by trying things on, and then pointing out all of the flaws, Kaoru headed into the dressing room and dumped everything on a chair in the corner. 

She tried the skirt... unless it was a belt...first, along with a blue tank top that dipped low in the back and was woven with subtle silver threads. 

“Hmm...” Misao said critically. “No, no, not with that top... try the other one...” 

Kaoru wasn’t sure how many combinations Misao had her try on before the petite girl bounced back into the dressing room with a grin. 

She was still wearing the black leather pants Misao had already declared to be keepers, and which Kaoru had yet to come up an acceptable objection to. They somehow managed to be comfortable in spite of how tightly they fit, and were surprisingly durable. Kaoru had surreptitiously tried a few basic kata moves in the dressing room, in the hopes that one of the seams would split and put the pants out of the running, but it hadn’t worked. 

“I found the perfect top for you!” Misao held up a hanger with..... Kaoru blinked. 

“Um... Misao... that’s not a top; that’s a handkerchief that’s somehow gotten separated from its kerchiefy little friends...” 

“Your wacky imagination is exceeded only by your complete lack of imagination. Um... I mean, live a little when it comes to clothing! This is for clubbing, and dancing, and drinking, and having fun, and...and... frolicking!” 

“I don’t think there’s enough of it to do all that...” Kaoru said, holding the hanger up skeptically to look at her friend’s choice. 

The fabric—what there was of it—was a medium blue, with another strip of the same blue that went around the neck to hold the top in place. Between the two medium blue pieces was a slightly shimmery lighter blue fabric that Kaoru was sure was going to be awfully close to see-through. 

Misao said, “Well, come on; put it on, what are you waiting for?” 

“But...but... Misao, I don’t think that I’m wearing the right bra for something like that...” Kaoru tried, desperate. Misao had that look in her eyes again... 

“You don’t wear a bra with this, Kaoru.” 

“I... you... how am I supposed to be out in a club and dancing and so on without a bra?” Kaoru hissed, blushing furiously. 

Misao pulled the top off the hanger and turned it inside out. “It’s got a built-in underwire, Kaoru... this top works like its own bra. Put it on; you’ll see.” 

Muttering under her breath, Kaoru finally gave in. 

The top wasn’t actually as bad as she’d feared. 

It was much worse.<

The bottom of the top came down to just underneath her breasts, and with the low waist of the pants, Kaoru’s entire abdomen felt very exposed. Not to mention that the entire thing fit like a second skin. The shimmery fabric managed to keep the amount of cleavage she was showing just shy of being completely indecent... well.... actually, Kaoru wouldn’t use the word “shy” in any context where that top was concerned. 

“PERFECT!!” Misao yelled, loudly enough that two salespeople and a customer started and then turned and stared. 

_‘Don’t show fear; don’t show fear... oh...crap...’_ Kaoru thought as Misao turned to her with shining eyes and launched into conversation without waiting for Kaoru to even open her mouth. 

“Yes! That’s the outfit for you! And, well, for whichever lucky guy you’re out with.... ok, change back so that I can pay, and then, my friend, we are going to spend the remaining time shopping for shoes. By which I mean you are getting new shoes. And before you protest, let me remind you that I’ve seen those ridiculous black pumps you insist on wearing—in fact, I was there when you bought them, over the express objections of both Megumi and myself, and they have not gotten any prettier over the intervening years. Go, change; we have shopping to do!” 

“Ah...I...uh...” Kaoru stuttered, then gave up. There was really no way to stop Hurricane Misao once she got going; it was useless to try. 

_‘Well... if I let her buy this, she’ll feel better, and I won’t have to worry about any birthday ‘surprises’ like last year ... and the year before that.... and there’s nothing that says I actually have to **wear** it. Ever. It can just live happily in the back of my closet and commune with the other things Misao has given me that are too lovely to wear...’_

Giving it one last try as they left the store, Kaoru gamely said, “You know, Misao, if we could just stop at the bookstore on the way to the shoes...” 

“Oh, no, raccoon-girl—you pulled that stunt last time. ‘Oh, just go ahead,” you said. “I’ll catch up,” you said. Five hours later, you’re still lurking in the stacks and the mall is getting ready to close. No bookstores for you.” 

“You are a cruel, cruel girl,” Kaoru mused, without real anger, “Hey... is there some kind of film noir retro fashion trend going on? There was this guy outside the food court in a black fedora, and there’s another one right now in a black hat that looks exactly alike.” 

“How alike? Was it the same hat?” Misao demanded, eyes twinkling. ‘You know what they say about deja vu...” 

“ ‘Oh Tish, that’s French’?” Kaoru suggested. 

Misao rolled her eyes. “OK, fine, don’t believe me. But don’t be surprised when the men in black suits and sunglasses show up.” 

“With you, I’m more worried about the men in white coats,” Kaoru retorted. 

Ducking the punch Misao aimed at her arm, Kaoru laughed as the two girls headed on to tackle the dreaded black pumps issue. Shooting down Misao’s first four choices on the grounds that: they were impractical for school; they would be hard to walk in; no, sex kitten is not the look I’m going for; and just plain ugly, Kaoru finally found a pair of shoes they could both agree on and bought them with a sigh of relief. Not only that, Misao had bounded up to her with a pair of black boots that she insisted would work beautifully with Kaoru’s other new outfit. Since Kaoru could see them working well with clothing she actually intended to wear out in public, she acquiesced and bought the boots along with the pumps. This made Misao happy enough to jump up and down, before she remembered that she had promised not to do that any more in the mall. 

Once she’d paid for everything, Kaoru allowed herself a satisfied grin. Two suits, plus blouses, an outfit Misao never needed to know she wasn’t going to wear, sensible pumps, and some nice dressy boots. Not a bad haul for an afternoon’s work. If she played her cards right, it would be another month before either Misao or Megumi got it into their heads that Kaoru’s wardrobe needed adjustment. 

“I’m so happy that you finally found shoes to replace those other monstrosities!” Misao sighed happily as they headed out to the parking lot. 

“I’m amazed that you managed to find three pairs for yourself in half an hour. Where do you keep all of your shoes, Misao? I’ve been to your apartment; it’s not that big...” 

Misao shrugged, “Well, when something’s important to me, I find a way to make it happen. Speaking of making things happen, we need to figure out where you’re going to wear your spiffy new outfit. I’m thinking next week, drinks, dancing, and potential debauchery, if either of us can find a man worth... um... debauching.” 

Kaoru blushed, although it was more from the memory of recent events than Misao’s suggestion. She could only hope that her face was either not visible in the darkness or that Misao would assume it was because Kaoru was thinking of purely hypothetical situations. 

Misao chattered brightly the whole way back to Kaoru’s apartment, running through half-formed plans for getting together the following Friday and hitting the clubs. 

Kaoru nodded vaguely and made occasional affirmative noises, but spent most of the time watching the streetlights and the other cars on the road. 

_‘When is she going to learn that I really don’t like going out to noisy, crowded bars and clubs, full of half-drunken idiots? Well, gee, Kaoru, the fact that you keep letting yourself get talked into going to said clubs and bars isn’t exactly making it clear, is it.’_

This time, she was resolved not to be overwhelmed by Misao’s persuasive talents. There was no way she was going to spend an evening out with a hyperactive weasel-girl, surrounded by a bunch of men who she didn’t even know, hoping to find somebody to get into a relationship with.... 

Kaoru paused. A relationship. Maybe that wasn’t such a horrible idea after all. If she was in a relationship, then... Kenshin would have to back off, right? It would mean that she obviously and publicly and definitely wasn’t available, and then he wouldn’t keep... well, doing the things that he seemed prone to do. Repeatedly. At the very least, she reasoned, having a shiny new boyfriend to brandish in front of him would throw him off enough to give her space to figure out how exactly she was going to get rid of him. For good this time. 

Now that was something it was worth spending an evening out for. 

“What time next Friday?” Kaoru asked as they pulled into her parking lot. 

Misao blinked. She honestly hadn’t been expecting Kaoru to agree so quickly; usually it took cunning, guile, and threats to drag her friend out of the house on a Friday night. However, she was not one to look a gift raccoon in the mouth, so she quickly replied, “Eight o’clock. I’ll come by to pick you up.” 

“Isn’t eight a little earlier than you normally start club-hopping?” 

“I’m factoring in the time I’ll need to wrangle you into a decent outfit and re-do your hair and make-up.” Misao admitted. 

“There’s nothing wrong with the way I do my make-up! And I can dress myself, thank you. Just pick me up at nine-thirty like you always do, ok?” 

“Fine, fine,” Misao sighed in a way that made it perfectly obvious she had no intention of doing as Kaoru requested. “I’ll see you on Friday.” 

“I won’t answer the door before nine-thirty, just so you know. In fact, I may booby trap the doorbell. Possibly with paintballs.” 

And with that, Kaoru said her goodbyes and got out of the car, grabbing her purchases from the backseat. She waved to Misao as her car drove away, and headed upstairs to put her new clothes in the closet—in some cases, very far back in the closet—and get some sleep. 

Tomorrow, she and Sano had a long day of car-hunting, and she knew that she needed to be well-rested. Megumi had gone car-shopping with Sano once without getting a full night’s sleep, and it was the reason she now drove a very tiny, very fast, very red convertible sports car with many unique personality quirks. 

Making sure that all of her car-shopping information was laid out and well-organized, Kaoru turned out her lights, brushed her teeth, and went to bed. 

* * *

Car shopping was neither as successful as Kaoru had hoped nor as bad as she had feared. True, it took way more time than she had planned, and involved Sano arguing strongly in favor of a zippy little Mazda that gave Kaoru a very bad flashback of a laughing blonde and her blonde, laughing friends accelerating out of the high school parking lot. 

However, Sano was not only willing to look at all the options Kaoru had circled (after he himself had read through the ads and agreed that those were the best choices), he took his time with each car, checking the tires, the engine, the seats, the sound system—to Kaoru’s amusement—and everything else he or Kaoru could think of. Since he’d been bugging her to get a car for half a year, he had a pretty good idea of exactly what she was looking for...well, except for the Mazda incident.... and she ended up with a silver-grey sedan that had fewer than fifty thousand miles on it and enough room to haul all of her things, and occasionally her brother, back and forth. 

Since he’d been so helpful, for once Kaoru was the one to suggest that Sano deserved beer and sustenance, and that they could pick up Megumi and head out to whatever restaurant he picked in her shiny new-to-her car. 

“Thanks, Missy, but the Fox and I have plans. Anniversary of the third time we started going out. And, um, the fifth.” 

“Oh... well... congratulations and, uh, congratulations. Take a rain-check?” 

“You know it!” Sano grinned broadly “Well, you take care of your nice new car... and don’t let the Weasel try to name it!" 

Kaoru laughed. Misao did have a habit of naming the inanimate objects owned by her and her friends.... a process which usually involved referring to the object in question by a series of names until she found one that she decided fit, for reasons that were clear only to Misao. This was also how she had ended up with a hundred and twenty pound mastiff named Angel Marie. 

Taking advantage of her automotive freedom, Kaoru drove cheerfully down the highway, singing car-related pop songs at the top of her lungs. 

“Life is a highway! I wanna drive it... until I figure out what to do for dinner... Burger King does it my way... but fried chicken’s always a winner... hmm... well, that’ll never be a Top 40 hit, now will it... Hmm... apparently being in my very own car makes me more likely not only to sing out loud but to talk to myself.... Better not do that when anybody else is in the car with me. Although then I suppose I’d be talking to them.... Clearly, car ownership is more complicated than I first thought...” 

In the end, Kaoru decided that she wanted to go home and kick back with a good movie... preferably one that involved no car chases, car crashes, car vandalism.... 

One of those Jane Austen films Megumi had talked about the other day sounded good. 

Movie night automatically meant pizza and root beer, and, since Kaoru was feeling particularly happy and self-indulgent, an order of cheesesticks. With garlic. Lots of garlic. 

True, that was another thing that was supposed to be for vampires, but she didn’t expect a... a... well, whatever kind of demon Kenshin was, exactly, to want to get up close and personal with a girl who smelled like garlic. 

She wondered if there was an Eau de Garlique available alongside the garlic capsules and supplements at one of the local health food stores.... 

* * *

Thanks to the wonders of modern cellphone technology, Kaoru pre-ordered the pizza and was able to pick it up immediately. 

“Here you go, Ms Kamiya! The usual, plus cheesesticks, extra garlic. So, no delivery tonight, huh?” 

“Nope! I got a car! It’s so shiny! Don’t worry; I am sure there will be times when I rely on pizza delivery, same as always. Have a good night!” Kaoru answered. She wondered if she should be disturbed by the fact that her car-buying good mood was making her sound an awful lot like Misao.... 

The parking lot presented an unexpected problem, since Kaoru hadn’t registered for a parking spot at the rental office. 

_‘Rats... rats... other small annoying mammals... I knew that there was something I forgot to do yesterday! Oh... and water the plants; two things I forgot to do yesterday... Hmm... visitor’s spot, visitor’s spot, there can’t be THAT many people deigning to visit our fair complex... ah-ha! I’ll just have to go to the office on Monday and fill out an application now that I have a car of my very, very own.’_

Humming “Route 66” under her breath, Kaoru headed for the stairs, balancing the pizza, cheesesticks, and root beer while she hunted for the door keys. She slowed and paused when she thought she someone standing near the entranceway—the apartment complex had a strict policy against letting other people into the building, a policy which Kaoru was highly in favor of, and she always waited to see if somebody was going to be buzzed in before she went in herself, just so nobody could lurk and then use her to get in. Fortunately, when she looked more closely, it was just an odd pattern of shadows from the trees and trash bins. And possibly the neighbor’s cat, who occasionally found things worth pouncing on in the general vicinity of the trash. 

_‘Tell the office that the light in the stairwell is burned out; THREE things I forgot..... and nifty red uniforms...argh... ok, ok, no problem; just have to attain a Zen-like state of oneness with the pizza box and the soda and make it up the stairs without incurring the wrath of gravity...”_

Fortunately, the stairs were free of obstructions, and Kaoru was able to proceed without too much trouble as long as she took it slowly, relied heavily on the light coming in from the parking lot lamps, and kept her glance trained on the stairs. 

Then, she wasn’t even sure how, her ears picked up a noise, the merest hint of a sound, and she looked up, startled, to see movement; a pair of glowing amber eyes, a flash of deep red in the darkness, and a fierce, harsh, snarl of an expression that that had her automatically throwing her arms out even as she took an instinctive step backwards... 

.... only to feel a sense of panic and disorientation as her foot met nothing but the air at the edge of the step. 

Kaoru’s loud scream was cut off as she found herself suddenly jerked forward and spun so that she was standing on the landing, catching her breath and re-orienting herself now that she had stopped moving. 

She wasn’t falling... that was good. She could handle not falling. There were two hands clasped around her forearms, hands that seemed unwilling to let go, as if she would immediately start tumbling again without support. 

As her brain re-examined the past several seconds, and put the “who” together with the “what,” Kaoru realized that the not falling might be the least of her problems. 

Unless she planned on attacking Kenshin with cheesesticks, she really didn’t have a weapon, and she had no illusions about being able to break his grip. 

_‘Oh, hells...’_ she thought, and then, _‘And I didn’t even get to drive my new car to work; finally get a new car, and can’t use it more than once due to unexpected demonic activity, just my luck; guess Yahiko was right that I’m just not meant to have a car, although how exactly he connected that to my cooking skills is still a myst-.... huh?’_

Kenshin had let go, and taken a step back. Kaoru blinked uncertainly. Of the various and several responses she had expected from him, that was not one. 

“I... I’m sorry,” he said, his voice low. 

“You what?” Kaoru said, looking up at him in shock. 

“I... I didn’t realize it was... I thought it was... somebody else. It’s dark, and I didn’t expect...” Kenshin trailed off. 

_‘Sheepish is a very odd expression for him,’_ she decided, _‘And that shirt does nothing... oh, double hells... I DID attack him with cheesesticks...’_

And, indeed, now that she was looking at it from a stationary position, the light coming in from the windows clearly showed that Kenshin’s shirt was... well... considering the root beer, the cheese and garlic were probably the least of his laundry issues. She didn’t dare glance down to check out his pants, but she was fairly sure they must be in a similar situation. 

And if the cheesesticks and root beer had met a grisly fate defending her from a vicious attack of mistaken identity, then what had happened... 

“Oh, DAMMIT!” Kaoru yelled, interrupting what looked like Kenshin’s attempt to continue his explanation and dashing past him to where the pizza box had landed. 

“Oh, please; come on...” she muttered, ignoring Kenshin’s questioning, “Kaoru?” and focusing on more important issues. 

Namely, her dinner. 

Kaoru exhaled in relief when she realized that the pizza had survived. Well, one side was... a little bit bent, and she was going to have to perform an emergency topping readjustment, but it was definitely much more edible than anything she could have come up with on her own. 

Good; she wasn’t going to have to kill Kenshin. Tonight, at least. 

Picking up the pizza protectively, Kaoru turned to face the redhead, who was still looking at her with an expression that was somewhere between sheepish and baffled. 

“This,” she said in an aggrieved tone, “is my dinner. You seem to be wearing the rest of it, and the only regrettable thing about that is that you have deprived me of cheesesticks, about which I am not pleased.” 

Kenshin looked down and seemed to notice what had happened to his shirt... and definitely his pants, now that Kaoru could risk a quick glance... for the first time. 

“Ah,” he said, “Um... that’s ok... I still have your sweatshirt from the last time you...” 

“I DON’T CARE ABOUT YOUR WARDROBE! And you’d better give me back my sweatshirt, you... oh, never mind, the point is that this” she gestured at him aggressively with the slightly battered box, “is my dinner. Which I was looking forward to. And which I am now going to go eat, in my apartment, and if you come anywhere near my door, you are going to be needing to replace more than your shirt, you pointy-toothed idiot.” 

And with that, Kaoru turned and stomped into the hallway, not caring about Kenshin’s explanations or his expression. 

Screw Jane Austen; she needed a film where the Demonic Forces of Hell got their asses handed to them by a group of righteous heroes. Preferably in a very painful fashion, possibly involving creative use of household objects as weapons. 

She was starting to think that a few pointers in that direction might be very handy. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In this chapter, I don’t own: The hysterically funny farce “Noises Off!,” “The Matrix,” “The Addams Family,” “Route 66,” or “Life is a Highway.” And I still don’t own the Muppets. Nor do I own “The Creation of Man,” from the musical version of “The Scarlet Pimpernel,” although it is a very funny song.
> 
> After many suggestions, I went with Blue Mooney’s for the name of Sano and Katsu’s bar (thank you to Ravyn and her floormates!). I’m thinking it’s a combination of the previous owner’s name and Sano attempting wordplay, possibly based on when Megumi told him she would ever even think about going out with him.


	12. Dear Old Golden Rule Days

Kenshin had to admit, Kaoru knew how to pick a building with good water pressure, even if he’d made a couple of changes to the bathroom itself once he’d moved in. He leaned against the wall of the shower and let the spray pound down on his back and rinse out his hair.

The stairwell had been filthy. After Kaoru had stomped off, protectively clutching her pizza, Kenshin had felt obliged to make sure that the cheesestick remnants were properly disposed of, and the root beer puddles were mopped up. Then he’d felt obligated to apply a more general cleaner to the entire stair landing area, which apparently had served as a resting place for generations of chewing gum, soda spills, and several things that, given time, would probably have left the building on their own.

As always, the cleaning helped him to calm down and relax; almost like meditation, but with more concrete, lemon-scented results. 

The fact that the incident on the stairway had happened in the first place clearly indicated that his current hunt was bothering him more than he’d been willing to admit to himself. Whether it was because of the quarry itself, or because of... other issues, he still wasn’t sure.

And not being sure was definitely not good. Not just for him, but also for....

Kenshin scowled at his reflection as he towel-dried his long hair. He knew what he had to do next, and he really wasn’t looking forward to it. After he’d pulled on boxers and a pair of comfortable jeans, he dug his new cell phone out of where he’d put it in an effort to ignore its existence and punched in a number. The phone was picked up after just one ring, as if the person on the other end had been waiting for Kenshin to call. Which was probably the case.

“It’s me...yes, I’m sure that you knew... yes, actually, I do know what time it is,” Kenshin said, trying to remember exactly where he’d put his watch. Interrupting the flow of words from the other end of the line, Kenshin said, “We may have a problem... No, not with that; that’s going perfectly... well, if you didn’t want to hear details, why did you...” He put his hand to his face and took a deep breath, then continued, “I believe that I picked up traces of Kurogasa lurking somewhere near the building tonight, but it was nothing specific enough to pinpoint or track him further. The odds against it being a coincidence are, I think, fairly high. No, I don’t think it’s because I’ve become “even more of an idiot,” I think that our friend’s learned a few new tricks. I think that it would be a good idea if you sent... yes, exactly. When? Good; I’ll be expecting him. Good night, Master.”

As he hung up the phone, Kenshin let out a long-suffering sigh. ‘ _You’d think that after all these years, it would be easier to deal with him, but all the passing of time seems to do is give him more ammunition! And better ways to use it! Sometimes I think he spends half his time thinking up new ways to torment me...’_

After feeding the fish, he headed out into the kitchen to make himself a cup of tea. It was a choice between that and several rather more violent forms of stress relief, and he really didn’t feel like showering again.

Besides which... he looked out the window, to where he could see Kaoru lying on her sofa, a big bowl of popcorn on the coffee table, laughing hysterically at whatever movie she was watching, and periodically sitting up to take notes on the pen and paper next to the popcorn bowl.

He wondered if she was working on a project for her job.

Kenshin smiled as he leaned against the glass. He was fairly certain that Kaoru hadn’t yet figured out that he was living next to her, in the larger apartment that wrapped around the side of the courtyard and allowed him to look into her living room window. The fact that she hadn’t boarded up the window was proof of that, he thought wryly. He considered himself fortunate that she had barricaded herself into her apartment after their meeting on the stairs that first day, and that Sano hadn’t tried to recruit her help so that she would realize exactly _which_ apartment in her complex he was moving into.

Otherwise, he was fairly certain that he would have had to spend his first night in his new apartment checking for booby traps and moving all his knives back into the kitchen from under his sofa cushions and in his bed. He was probably lucky that she hadn’t gone back to her car and tried to “accidentally” run him over in front of Sano. On the other hand, Sano was probably lucky that Kaoru hadn’t been there to hear how his subtle hints about getting his best friend together with his girlfriend’s cousin. This afternoon, or any of the other times he’d dropped hints...

* * *

_The afternoon sun had shone into the bar, highlighting the glasses Sano had been cleaning._

_‘See what I mean? The Paulaner is a completely different taste from what we’ve already got on tap.”_

_Kenshin nodded as he finished his beer. “Are you two thinking of seriously expanding your beer selection?”_

_“Katsu keeps trying to convince me—wants to bring in a bunch of Belgian stuff, start adding local microbrews... I keep telling him we’re not gonna turn into some overpriced hangout for beer snobs. We’re compromising by adding a couple of new things. Kaoru keeps telling me that we should spend the money on “fixing up this dump,” but I figure that she’s just jealous of my decorating skills...”_

_He had felt something prickle across his awareness at that last sentence, and had flicked a startled glance to where Sano had been putting the glasses out to dry._

_“Kaoru? Who... is Kaoru?” Kenshin said, carefully, hiding his tension. There could be other girls with that name, in this city..._

_“Megumi’s cousin, Kaoru Kamiya. You might know the name; her family’s run a dojo on the other side of town for a while now.”_

_Kaoru something with a “K”...._

_Kaoru who belonged to a family that taught kendo..._

_“Well... it sounds like she might have a point, Sano. Some of this stuff has been in here since the Roosevelt era...” he replied in a light tone, hiding any anticipation, repressing his need to jump straight to interrogating his friend. There were things that needed to be handled delicately, and this was definitely one of them._

_“It adds character!” Sano defended, “Who the hell would come to hang out in a bar that didn’t have character? It would be like a damned airport lounge!”_

_“What does Megumi say about all this character?”_

_“Ehh...” Sano mumbled something under his breath that had Kenshin repressing a grin. “Look, I gotta go get the rest of the kegs up from the cellar—you gonna stay or are you heading out?”_

_“Thanks, Sano; I’ve got some work to do this afternoon. I should get going.”_

_“OK—come by this weekend, you can vote in the beer selection contest Katsu’s got set up.”_

_“Sure. See you then.” Kenshin replied, opening the door as his friend turned and headed towards the cellar. When he was sure that Sano was heading down the steps, Kenshin carefully slipped back inside the bar and went through the hallway to the office. Ignoring the piles of paper on the ancient desk, and the half-open safe that Katsu used to store his personal whiskey supply, Kenshin cast an eye on the photographs Sano had pinned up to the wall next to the computer. They overlapped in a crazy patchwork, faces and locations jumbled together. Running his fingers over the display, Kenshin found what he was looking for._

_The photograph showed a bright, sunny day at the beach, a trip Kenshin remembered Sano talking about the previous summer, mostly because Megumi had been furious at being dumped in the water after spending half an hour applying sunscreen and then another half hour letting it soak in. Sano was clowning for the camera like an idiot, holding off an attack from a spiky-haired kid Kenshin didn’t recognize. Megumi, wearing her usual broad-brimmed hat, had her arms crossed as she watched the other two. And standing next to her, looking amused and grinning, blue eyes sparkling in the sun as she raised a hand to push back long black hair that seemed to have escaped from its ribbon..._

_Kenshin smiled, a slow, predatory expression that made amber spark in his eyes._

_‘Well, well, well... Kaoru... how **very** nice to finally see you again...’_

* * *

As the teakettle came to a boil, Kenshin reluctantly pried himself away from the view. Now that he was going to be receiving assistance, he knew that he’d better get all of his information and leads in order; it wouldn’t do to show up to the meeting unprepared—especially since he knew that that would leave him open to accusations of being “excessively and unreasonably distracted,” an annoyance that he really didn’t feel like dealing with. It had taken him long enough to live down the fact that he’d gotten himself killed by “a slip of a girl with a mediocre kitchen knife,” and _that_ had been when he’d tried to keep everything a complete secret, not in a situation where he was going to have to meet and talk through the entire history of the hunt, in detail.

Well, maybe not _every_ detail.

* * *

All things considered, Kaoru mused as she dug through her bag looking for her wallet, returning the test had been fairly non-traumatic. Mr. Fujita had made one or two corrections to her grades— lowering scores and making pointed comments in the margins--- but she actually _hadn’t_ had to fail anybody and, by some miracle, he had decided not to either.

_‘I honestly don’t know how he does it; even when he CIRCLES people’s wrong answers and doesn’t comment further it comes across as sarcastic. Wonder if they give courses on how to do that.... although I’m not sure that I want to circle sarcastically. Encouragingly, yes; sympathetically, definitely; ironically, nostalgically, or humorously... maybe. Hmm... Ironically, I find myself getting nostalgic for my wallet, which I seem to have humorously buried in this over-sized purse Misao and Megumi would hamstring me for using in public...Black wallet in a black bag; what was I thinking....’_

Luckily, the wallet eventually came to light. Kaoru let out a sigh of relief. True, she had some emergency granola bars in her desk, but she always looked forward to grabbing lunch at the school cafeteria, because it was either decent enough that she could be assured of getting one good hot meal on any given weekday or so horribly awful that she could feel proud of her own cooking skills in comparison. Today was going to be Hamburger Surprise. She could tell just by reading the menu that this was going to be another boost to her own cooking confidence.

Kaoru was trying to decide what reading materials she wanted to take with her over lunch when there was a knock on the door.

_‘Oh, rats. Why, Lord, does it always have to be students coming in just when I want to go to lunch? Can’t we ever pass back a test without some student coming in to complain about their grade as soon as they get the chance to, and give horribly detailed reasons and sketches about why their answer is in fact right, or they were distracted by sunspot activity or something...’_

“Well, good afternoon, Ms Kamiya...” Kenshin drawled as he came into the classroom, “You certainly look very... professional today.”

Kaoru glared upwards and muttered something indistinguishable under her breath about God’s sense of humor when granting her prayers.

“I look professional _every_ day, idiot,” Kaoru hissed, “This is where I work. At my job. Which has nothing to do with you, so please, if you’re going to show up and molest me, don’t do it here.” The humorous, burning sparks in Kenshin’s eyes made Kaoru blink and go over her sentence again, and she snapped, “Or anywhere else! You are not to bother me, here or elsewhere.”

“Mmmmm...” Kenshin mused as he looked her up and down in a way that made her wish she could go hide someplace where there were blunt objects she could throw at him.

As she opened her mouth to utter a truly devastating comeback, Kenshin pulled a thermos out of the bag he was carrying and said, “Coffee?”

Kaoru blinked. “I... You what?”

Kenshin gave another one of those cheerful, open grins, and it suddenly occurred to her that he had never had such an unguarded look on his face when they had been back in high school.

“I brought coffee. Jamaican Blue. And sandwiches. And potato salad. And regular salad. And chips. Sano said that you liked sour cream and onion. I felt badly for ruining your dinner the other night, so I wanted to make it up to you.”

‘Oh, please; you would be here with lunch for me even if you hadn’t almost attacked me on Saturday.”

“True,” Kenshin said unapologetically. “Now, where do you keep your coffee mug, kitten?”

Somewhat numbly, Kaoru pointed to the corner of her desk where her “Let’s put the “fun” back in “dysfunctional” mug was sitting. Kenshin picked it up and raised one eyebrow as he looked at it. Then, holding it at arm’s length, he took it back to one of the sinks and washed it. Thoroughly.

She frowned. First sarcastic circles, and now condemnatory mug-washing. Apparently, there was a whole range of skills that she needed to work on.

Once he’d gotten the mug clean to his own satisfaction, Kenshin poured her a full serving of coffee, to which he’d already added the perfect amount of milk and sugar. Part of her brain wondered about that, but since the rest of her brain was jumping up and down and chanting, “Coffee, coffee, coffee...” she decided to chalk it up to luck.

The coffee was so good that Kaoru simply sat and savored it, a completely blissed-out expression on her face that made Kenshin stare at her for several seconds with a look in his eyes, like he was storing it in his mind for future reference and comparative purposes. If she hadn’t been drinking a damn fine cup of coffee at the time, Kaoru was pretty sure she would have snapped at him at the very least, but he’d successfully rendered her unable of anything but the mildest of glares.

Before she could remember and list all of the reasons why she was not going to eat lunch with him, Kenshin was halfway through unpacking enough food to feed a herd of elephants, or a couple of teenage boys. Then, moving with a speed which indicated he knew it was just a matter of time before she got herself together enough to throw him out of the room, he put together a plate of food and handed it to her.

She was planning on a show of stubborn resistance, really she was....but her stomach chose that exact moment to growl, loudly, and Kenshin bit back a laugh. It looked... really, really good.

“I realize it’s not as... entertaining as the things you’re likely to get in the cafeteria,” Kenshin said lightly as he started in on his own plate, “But I’ve heard excellent things about this deli from several different people.”

Glancing at him again, then at her plate, Kaoru bit her lip in consideration. Deli food. There shouldn’t be anything wrong with deli food, right? Lots of teachers brought sandwiches or salads from the local delis, although none of them looked this good, frankly, but it wasn’t as if she was being offered sandwiches _prepared_ by a demon...

_‘One must not look at goblin men; one must not buy their fruits... that doesn’t technically say anything about coffee. Or sandwiches, really. If he was bringing me an apple, **then** I’d start to get worried...’_

Glancing sideways to see Kenshin tucking into his food with great enjoyment, Kaoru risked a bite of her sandwich.

_‘Oh... rats. And I was looking forward to today being a Kaoru Feels Better About Her Cooking day again... Well, I suppose if I’m eating, he won’t be able to try to get me to talk. And he’s drinking the coffee, too, which means that it’s probably ok, and I should have thought of that before I drank it, mental note for next time an evil supernatural being brings me lunch....’_

Kenshin seemed content just to sit and eat, without saying anything beyond asking her if she wanted seconds on the coffee (yes), another sandwich (no), or a bit more of the potato salad (yes). Then he proceeded to pack everything back into the basket that he’d brought. Kaoru suddenly realized that the man had brought an actual picnic basket to school with him, and wondered why she hadn’t noticed it before.

Before she could stop herself, she blurted out, “Why on earth do you have a picnic basket?”

Looking up from his packing, Kenshin said, “Well, they can be really useful for carrying things... sometimes I use it to carry groceries in from the car, or books, or whatever...”

The image of Kenshin in the grocery store made Kaoru blink. Of course, that was probably because she was imagining him stalking the aisles with glowing eyes, pointed teeth, and an extreme lack of tolerance for people who took twenty minutes to decide which brand of ketchup they wanted, rather than the way he looked now, which was perfectly normal and mostly harmless.

Not for the first time, Kaoru realized that her life had gotten extremely confusing in the last week and a half or so. Or maybe it had gotten extremely confusing in high school and she was just now experiencing the results; she wasn’t sure. 

“Ms Kamiya?” a familiar voice sounded in the hallway, just before Mr. Fujita came back from lunch.

He was early, she thought; and, if his voice was anything to go by, not amused at having his lunch break shortened by at least one cigarette.

“Yes, Mr. Fujita?” Kaoru said as she stood up and walked back towards her desk, where her gradebook and the notes for the rest of the day were.

“If you’re finished with lunch, you should look over...” There was a pause as her supervisor noticed the red-haired man in the room with her.

Something about the quality of the silence in the room made Kaoru raise her head sharply, to see... well, mostly nothing but red hair and the back of a dark green shirt. 

_‘How on earth did he get in front of me that quickly?’_ she thought. She also wondered why he’d done it; she could barely see around him to where Mr. Fujita stood just inside of the doorway, an expression in his eyes Kaoru couldn’t remember having seen before, even when he’d lectured the entire fourth period on why the frogs they were dissecting were not to be used as short-range missiles, either whole or in part.

She couldn’t see Kenshin’s expression, but something about the tense set of his shoulders made a wary chill run down her spine.

“Um... Mr. Fujita, this is Kenshin....” she trailed off as she realized that Sano had never mentioned Kenshin’s last name.

“Himura. Kenshin Himura,” Kenshin said, his voice clipped.

“Kenshin Himura, a friend of a friend of mine; Kenshin, this is Mr. Goro Fujita, the teacher I’m working for this year. I’m sorry, Mr. Fujita; we were just finishing lunch, if you’d like to...” Kaoru tried to step around and reach her papers, but was brought up short by the fact that Kenshin moved almost before she did, without turning to face her.

‘That’s alright,” Mr. Fujita said as he walked further into the room with a calm, collected stride. “If none of the students have come in to complain.”

As he moved around towards his desk, Kenshin moved as well, which at least let Kaoru reach her gradebook.

With the strange feeling that her attempt to preserve a normal classroom environment was radically out of place, Kaoru leapt in nonetheless by saying, in a tone that she knew was a few too many degrees of chipper for her to use it successfully, “I copied down all the grades for you... if you’d like to look at them before the next class gets here. Which will be _soon_.” She put particular emphasis on the last word, hoping to get her point across to the two men who had still not broken eye contact with one another.

Kenshin finally broke the silence by saying, “In that case, I’ll leave you to finish work. And I’ll see you after school.”

For some reason, Kaoru wasn’t entirely positive that that last statement was really directed towards her.

With that, Kenshin left, somehow managing to keep his eyes on the older teacher the entire time.

After his departure, the tension... or whatever it was... that had been in the room diminished significantly. Mr. Fujita stared out the doorway for several long moments, before he returned to his desk, a set to his shoulders that, oddly, reminded her of the way that Kenshin had been standing.

Then he exhaled and said, “Thank you, Ms Kamiya; I would like to see that gradebook. We need to calculate everybody’s grade going into the mid-term, but that’s a project we can each work on at home.”

“Alright, then I’ll just read through the notes for the next lecture,” Kaoru said, aware that she was speaking on auto-pilot as her brain tried to work its way through whatever the hell had just happened.

_‘They know each other,’_ she thought, _‘You don’t react like that to a total stranger; you just... don’t. Unless it was another case of mutual mistaken identity, and they each thought they recognized somebody they used to know, or they both happen to look like people on America’s Most Wanted and I’ve just never noticed, or there really WAS something funny in the potato salad and I’m now imagining hostile staring contests.’_

_‘This is really, really, really not a complication that I need... bad enough when I was just having to deal with a demon in my private life, without any connection to where I work...’_

And as the rest of the class filed in, Kaoru ran through the incident again. And realized that not only had Kenshin kept his body interposed between her and Mr. Fujita the entire time, making sure that she was... well, shielded, but that Mr. Fujita’s circling pattern had been trying to outflank Kenshin and make sure that _he_ was the one between the red-haired man and Kaoru.

Oh, this was an entirely new level of complications that she really didn’t need. In fact, she didn’t even want to think about the implications, whether from the side of Kenshin’s apparently protective instincts where she was concerned, why he would focus in on her _boss_ as someone from whom she needed to be protected, or how Mr. Fujita would have any idea that Kenshin was as dangerous as Kaoru knew he could be.

On the positive side, she supposed, at least their display of testosterone seemed to have been focused on making sure the other one didn’t hurt her; that was... better than it could have been, all things considered. At the very least, it meant that she could make herself wait to get to the bottom of things rather than demanding answers in the middle of class....

Although that didn’t stop her from formulating several plans involving a stop at the dojo after school to see if her favorite bokken might help her convince a certain red-haired fellow-apartment-complex dweller to explain to her exactly what the _hell_ , figuratively or literally, had just happened. 

Before that, however, Kaoru wanted to follow through with some plans for further research that she’d come up with. The incident in the school had only spurred her sense of urgency, the effects of which she noticed the minute she started her drive over to the public library.

_‘Calm driving, calm driving... yellow does **not** mean go real fast...’_

Once in the library, she said a cheerful hello to the librarian, a friend from way back, and headed down into the basement stacks where old newspapers and magazines were kept. 

_‘If Sano knows Kenshin from high school, and **I** know Kenshin from high school, that means he was at at least two different high schools in the same city...’_

Not that she expected to find an article headlined, “Demon makes honor roll three semesters running,” but if Kenshin’s time at Sano’s school had been as... eventful as the months he’d spent at New East Capitol, then there was bound to be something, some mention of murder or mayhem or a sudden unexpected winning streak for the fencing team....

It took her almost an hour of searching through disordered piles of yellowing paper, the dust swirling around her and dancing in the sunbeam that had found its way through the small windows before she found something, dated three years after Sano had left school. And it wasn’t at all what she’d expected.

The article was short, a couple of paragraphs on a back page accompanied by a grinning, faded photo of a high school boy who looked exactly like dozens of other high school boys Kaoru had seen. 

_‘Scholarship fundraiser exceeds expected amounts,’_ Kaoru read, eyes widening. _‘The third annual Merriton-Burgess fundraising carnival on the grounds of Westfield High enjoyed record success this year and the school Entrepreneur’s Club president, Michael Jenson, announced that they hope to be able to provide up to five scholarships for Westfield students heading on to business school after graduation. The Merriton-Burgess scholarships were instituted by the district and the Club after the tragic highway accident three years ago which claimed the lives of then-president William Merriton, vice president/secretary David V. Burgess, and nine other club members. President Jenson commented, “I remember Bill and Dave; they were true entrepreneurs and great guys. If it hadn’t been for that accident, they would have had a great future. It’s a shame that tragedies like that happen. We hope that the scholarship fund will help to carry on their ideas and allow others to realize...’_ Rolling her eyes at the rest of the paragraph, which was more blather about the importance of dreams, business, and a stirring paean to the forces of capitalism, Kaoru put that paper back and dove back into the stacks for three years prior to that issue, hoping for a description of the accident itself.

It was in the police reports, and then again in a long, sentimental article full of quotes from other students trying to come up with appropriately deep and grief-stricken things to day. The accident itself was described in a few short paragraphs, full of words like “tragedy” and “unexplained vehicular malfunction” and “dental records,” with occasional references to fire.

Kaoru bit her lip thoughtfully. While it was entirely possible that most of the business club at Westfield High had just _happened_ to meet an unfortunate fate during the period while Kenshin was there, she rather doubted it. 

_‘And I happen to know for a fact that fire is a great way to cover up death by pesky mysterious sword wounds...’_

The only thing substantially different about the incident at Westfield was that it was the Entrepreneur’s Club and not the football team and cheerleaders that got wiped out. 

_‘Why? I mean, normally those two groups don’t even really speak to each other... it’s like comparing apples and... and... some other, more businesslike fruit....it doesn’t make sense... unless one of them did something to piss him off, and maybe one of the jocks did the same thing, and so he went after the whole group just on the principle of the thing? Or he rolled one die twenty and came up with pinstripes the first time and jockstraps the second?’_

It was another mystery, wrapped in an enigma, cloaked in an annoyance. The one good thing...well, maybe not a _good_ thing, but a definite thing... was that Kaoru now knew that what had happened at New East Capital wasn’t a one-time occurrence. Put together with Westfield, it made a pattern—a pattern Kaoru had a feeling she would find in other places, if she took the time to look for it.

Kenshin had killed before. 

And she had no doubt that, given the chance, he would do it again.

* * *

There was a lurking patch of shadow against the school wall as Kaoru’s supervising teacher headed out towards his car.

Rolling his eyes, he said, “Very subtle, Battousai. Did you honestly think that I wouldn’t notice you were over there? What do you think you’ve been doing all afternoon? Lurking with intent to annoy?”

Kenshin detached himself from the shadows, hand on the hilt of his sword, his eyes glowing amber as he approached the taller man.

“Stay away from her, Saitoh,” he said, without preamble, his voice tinged by a low growl. 

“Who, exactly, would you be referring to?” Saitoh replied, one eyebrow raised with perfectly polite sarcasm.

There was more than a hint of fangs in the snarl that answered him, and the look on Kenshin’s face was enough to freeze the blood in a person’s veins.

“You do realize, moron, that Ms Kamiya is currently working for me, until the end of the year? A decision, by the way, that I had nothing to do with. Unless you’re planning on... _convincing_ the entire board responsible for student teaching assignments that the girl needs to be elsewhere, that is the way things are going to stay.”

“I’m sure that there’s at least _one_ other way to change the situation,” Kenshin said, with cold meaning.

“I fail to see why this is a situation that concerns you in the least,” Saitoh said calmly, pulling out a cigarette and lighting it. If he was going to be forced to have a conversation with the annoying redhead, he should at least be able to smoke. That way, it wouldn’t be a complete waste of his time.

Taking a long drag before exhaling, Saitoh continued, “Ms Kamiya is not...” He paused, as if considering for the first time how to describe the young woman he had been working with daily for the past several months. “I have never seen any indication of anything about her that would be reason for her to attract... _your_ sort of attention, Battousai. If I had, rest assured that I would have taken care of it my-...”

“ _Stay **away** from her, Wolf_!”

Saitoh blinked at the sheer venom in Kenshin’s tone, the way his hand clenched tightly around the hilt of his sword, the tension in his posture that showed he was on the edge of attacking. 

The only thing that broke the silence in the parking lot was the sound of Saitoh once again slowly taking a drag of his cigarette and exhaling thoughtfully.

Finally, choosing his words carefully, he said, “Ms Kamiya has the makings of an exceptional teacher. One who can have a true impact in the lives of her students. The school system needs as many people like her as it can get, and as her mentor, it is my responsibility to make sure that she learns the skills she needs to acquire for the classroom and makes it through the training period unscathed and in one piece. So to speak. And, as you know, Battousai, I take my responsibilities very seriously.”

Subtle, but perfectly clear.

Having finished, Saitoh calmly strolled past the demon standing in the parking lot, his expression still set, but with something like understanding lurking below the surface.

When he had reached his car, Saitoh said, without turning around, “By the way, Battousai... I see that you’re still borrowing a sword. As I recall, there was a very _interesting_ set of rumors about why exactly that is.”

If it hadn’t been contrary to the studied nonchalance he was projecting, Saitoh would have turned around, just to catch the faint blush he was sure was visible on the other man’s face even as he said in a perfectly calm, slightly clipped tone, “There are always rumors. It means nothing.”

“No doubt,” Saitoh said with a wolfish smirk as he got into the car, “Farewell, Battousai.”

As he drove off, he looked in the rearview mirror. As he had expected, there was no sign that anybody else had ever been in the parking lot. Except possibly for a slightly darker patch of shadow against part of the wall.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter: Misao with a mission, and other forms of lingering doom.
> 
> In this chapter I don’t own: “Starman,” still don’t own Christina Rosetti’s “Goblin Market,” one of Mary Engelbreit’s “Let’s Put the Fun Back in Dysfunctional” mugs (although I want one), “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy,” or the Book of Genesis.
> 
> Author’s Note (happily bopping along in a caffeinated fashion to “Emanuela”): Hmm.. so that’s why Kenshin was in attack mode on the stairs (Hey, according to the translations, “Kurogasa” means “Black Hat of Rushes,” did you know that? I did not know that. *innocent authorial whistle*)


	13. Bokkens, Bangles, and Beads

Bringing up her bokken, Kaoru slowly demonstrated the series of moves that she wanted her beginning kendo class to work on during the day’s lesson. She held each position while she explained it, then had the students mimic it several times while she walked around and corrected people on their posture, grip, and the angles at which they were striking. When she was satisfied that everybody had the basic motions down, Kaoru declared, “OK! I want everybody to repeat that set of strokes two hundred times, then we’re going to pair off and get some sparring in before the end of class. There’s a beginner’s tournament coming up before Christmas, and I think it would be a great opportunity for all of you to get out there and test your skills against students from other dojos. For those of you who want to sign up, I’ll have flyers available next week. Now, everybody ready? Start counting!”

Walking around the room, Kaoru kept a careful eye on her students’ progress and technique. Teaching classes a couple of times a week was not only an excellent way for her to keep up her own skills sharp, it was, frankly, great to see young kids getting excited about her family’s discipline.

Besides which, the time she spent watching her students practice was good for thinking over whatever other problems she might be having. Calling her thoughts to order, she made a mental list of what she wanted to do while the sound of a group of ten-year-olds counting up to two hundred echoed through the training hall.

First: Mental Post-It note to bring her favorite bokken from the dojo to her new apartment. True, that would mean that she would have to either bring it back or use a spare when she was training or sparring, but since she had a car now, that shouldn’t be a problem. Her second-favorite bokken could just stay at her apartment, on the grounds that it couldn’t hurt to have a spare. Well, actually, she was hoping that it _could_ hurt, just not her.

Second: Continue to figure out a way to discover exactly what had happened in the classroom earlier that week when Kenshin and Mr. Fujita had had their testosterone poisoning moment in the classroom. So far, her efforts had been entirely unsuccessful. The next day she had spent almost the entire morning with her brow surreptitiously furrowed, trying to figure out ways to casually approach her supervisor and broach the topic of men with red hair and scars, mysterious reactions to. Unfortunately, given Mr. Fujita’s expression and the way that he had written on the board with sharp strokes, glaring at the chalk, Kaoru had quailed slightly at the prospect of asking him what he wanted her to do about collecting the class project sheets, let alone anything having to do with the way that he and Kenshin had reacted to one another. That afternoon, Kaoru had tried to work her way up to asking important questions like, “Do you know Kenshin from somewhere, and what exactly about him made both of you bristle like alleycats fighting over a nice piece of fish?” by starting out with an apology for the impromptu classroom picnic. Unfortunately, he had parried her attempts with enviable smoothness, and an expression which clearly said, “What strange reaction to an utterly random red-headed visitor who I have certainly never seen before in my life, Ms Kamiya?” His placidity had been absolutely infuriating, because while all of her spider senses were jumping up and down and screaming that _something_ , probably something _extremely important_ had happened the other day, she couldn’t find a way to make him spill about it. To add insult to annoyance, she hadn’t even caught a glimpse of Kenshin for the past several days and so couldn’t try to find anything out from him. Not that she was all that confident in her ability to question Kenshin about her supervisor, since she had had such woeful success in getting him to do anything else, but it would have doubled the number of people she could interrogate, and, from a statistical point of view, that should also have done good things for her chances of finding something out. At the moment, all she had was a strong desire to get the two men in a room and hit them over the head with a blunt argument.

Third: More research into demons, demonic weaponry, and how to kill the first and dispose of the second in a permanent fashion. What she had found in the library had made her even twitchier about resolving things, but she felt like she was no closer to figuring out what Kenshin was and what she could do about it than she had been before. Well, except in the sense of having eliminated a whole range of possibilities. That was technically progress, she supposed. In a glass-still-half-empty kind of way. 

After she dismissed the class for the day, Kaoru looked over to where her father had been watching the sparring matches. She grinned at him and said, “They’re really getting better, I think. At least five are definitely going to compete in December, and a couple more are thinking about it.”

“That’s great, hon! How’s the teaching schedule here working out with your real job, since you’ve moved?” Koshijiro asked, moving out of the doorframe and into the room. The advanced class that he taught and Kaoru participated in was going to start in another twenty minutes, and he clearly wanted to start warming up before the students started arriving.

“I’m fine, Dad,” Kaoru replied with a grin. “You don’t need to worry; I am eating regularly and sleeping well and making sure to brush my teeth. I am driving carefully, keeping up with local current events, looking both ways before I cross the street, and being kind to animals. Really.”

Her father looked a bit sheepish at her response. “I know you’re doing fine, sweetie, and I’m proud of you. It’s just a big step, and, as your father, I want to know that things are going well.”

“They are!” Kaoru reassured him cheerfully, her grin never failing. 

It was technically true. Mostly. Granted, the keeping up with local current events was mostly to see if anything had happened that seemed to be potentially demonic, the eating well consisted of her own cooking and school food, which Kaoru knew was stretching the definition a bit, and the only animal in her life at the moment was their extremely placid and easy-going cat Schroedinger, but she didn’t feel a need to go into details.

After class, Kaoru chatted some more with her father as they packed up the equipment. She shared a few anecdotes about her job that managed not to embarrass her brother, and they tried to work out some of the logistics for upcoming tournaments. The fact that she now had a car made things easier; the fact that she wasn’t living at home any more made things a bit more difficult, and this was the first time they had had to deal with it. As long as she was home, Kaoru scrounged around in the attic, accompanied by Shroedinger, who spent the time stalking dust particles, and dug through boxes of books until she found several fairytale collections that she had been fond of reading as a child.

_‘I’ve looked through myths and legends and folklore; fairy tales are kind of a long shot, but it can’t hurt. And besides which, they’re fun.’_

* * *

Back at her own apartment, Kaoru checked her messages, winced at Misao’s enthusiastic reminder of their planned clubbing expedition, and sorted her mail. 

After dinner, she curled up on the couch with her books, put the TV on something innocuous, and spent some quality time with a wide range of ridiculously beautiful princesses, occasionally idiotic princes, enchanted animals, and evil witches and wizards.

As she got ready for bed and brushed her hair out, she considered everything she had read.

_‘Hmm... I wonder if Kenshin does something like keep his life in an egg under a tree on the other side of a forest over a river in a basement in a locked filing cabinet in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying, “Beware of the Leopard”... in that case, I just need to find a random old beggar woman to help out so that she can give me magical combs and hairpins and.. and... or was it the beautiful daughter of the evil magician who had all the fun toys in that story... gah, Kenshin with a child, that’s a scary thought...At any rate, even supposing killing him involves destroying some object or.. or... wait... do I need to destroy his sword, maybe? Because that would be... I mean, not Fires of Mount Doom tough, but it’s not like I could toss it into the fireplace and solve things... And it still leaves me with the problem of getting the sword from where I hid it and transporting it someplace where I could get it melted... and explaining why I wanted to melt a katana...’_

She was glad that at least her grandfather’s wards and charms and whatever else he had done seemed to be holding up. 

Having a demon knocking on her family’s door and asking if he could please have his sword back had the potential to be a very, very bad thing.

* * *

The fact that her phone kept ringing long enough for Kaoru to leap out of the post-Friday-practice shower, wrap herself in her towel, and dash out to the living room with her wet hair swinging behind her should have been a warning not to answer it.

Really, there was only one person she knew who had that particularly persistent style when calling her. And it was never a good sign.

‘Hello, Kamiya Res......Misao!” Kaoru said, suddenly remembering why she had a Post-It note stuck to the table next to her phone with “Do NOT answer after fifteen rings!!” written on it in large letters, with underlining.

_‘Stupid social Pavlovian “Answer the ringing phone! Answer it! Answer it!” conditioning...’_ she thought with annoyance as she tried to focus on what Misao was saying. It was always best to pay very close attention to her overly perky friend, because if you ignored her and just made the standard, vaguely affirmative “Uh-huh...uh-huh..” noises over the phone, you often found yourself agreeing to things that would normally have had you running away and screaming in terror.

“... still going to the club with us tonight, right, Kaoru?”

“Yes, Misao. I will be ready for you to pick me up at nine-thirty, as we agreed...”

“We did _not_ agree to that; you declared it and I objected, because you are incapable of dressing yourself properly on your own.”

“Not wearing that outfit, Misao.”

She could almost hear her friend pouting over the phone, and she smiled slightly to herself as she paced. She might have agreed to this outing; she might even, in the recesses of her mind, be planning on having a fun time, with drinks, some dancing, and de-stressing with her friends, but that did not mean she was going to leave her house dressed in a “Randy sex kitten, buy me one drink and I’ll...” outfit.

“But, _Kaoru_ ,” Misao pleaded, “It looked fabulous on you! And we spent so long picking it out! What are you planning on wearing instead?”

“I... I don’t know yet: I just finished showering.” Kaoru said, frowning slightly. She kept feeling a prickling on the back of her neck that she couldn’t explain, and it was really driving her crazy; that sort of feeling you get when somebody is staring, but there was nobody else in the apartment, or in the closet, or in the courtyard, and ....

‘Great! Then I can come over right now and help you!” came the cheerful declaration from the other end of the phone.

“Uh-huh...” Kaoru said absent-mindedly.

_‘Oh, crap...’_

“I mean, it won’t be any trouble, and... hey! Really? OK, I’ll be right there—get your make-up out, and pick a couple of outfits for me to reject. Bye!”

“Um...but...Misao! No! I...” Kaoru realized she was talking to a dead line, and sighed dejectedly. She was doomed. Doomed, doomed, doomed.

Looking at her clock, she attempted to figure out how long it would take a hyperactive weasel-girl to get from her apartment over to where Kaoru lived. With any luck, she could be dressed, out the door, and in some sort of neutral location before...

Her frantic plans were interrupted by a loud knocking on her door. Kaoru frowned. Dashing back into her bedroom to throw on a bathrobe, she went to answer it.

She barely had the door opened before Misao bounced into the room, a large box Kaoru recognized as her personal and extensive make-up and hair product collection in one hand and several shopping bags in the other.

“Mi.... what... ... how fast did you... You were calling me from your car, weren’t you?” Kaoru demanded, giving her friend a glare that had no effect whatsoever.

“Well, I figured if I just came over and picked you up, you and the Silver Streak wouldn’t have an excuse to sneak away from the evening early,” she called back over her shoulder as she went into Kaoru’s bedroom.

“You are not naming my car, Misao.”

“But...”

“Listen, oh girl whose habit of giving things cute nicknames has cost her at least one boyfriend....”

Blithely ignoring Kaoru, Misao put down the silver arm bangles she had been fiddling with and started looking through her closet. “No... no...no... Megumi and I are dragging you shopping next weekend...no...no... Ah-ha!” she cried as she lunged forward triumphantly and pulled the bag from their shopping trip from where Kaoru had stuffed it in the hopes that it would never see the light of day again.

Thrusting the bag into her friend’s arms, Misao instructed, “Put these on. And wear that black thong; it will work really well with the pants. When you’re done, I’ll be out in the living room to do your hair and make-up... where’s your dryer? I’ll just take it with me...”

And with that, Hurricane Misao swept out into the living room, leaving Kaoru to wonder if she could manage to climb out of the window and shimmy down a drainpipe or something similar before Misao figured out how to break down the bedroom door.

Probably not, because that was the sort of thing that only worked once.

_‘Ok...ok... maybe this won’t be that bad. Maybe you can manage to snag a coat. And ski pants. And possibly a large burlap sack...’_

Searching for the black thong Misao had mentioned, Kaoru had a moment of blushing annoyance as she looked at her perfectly-organized drawer.

On the other hand, now that she thought about it, there were some distinct advantages to going to the club in Misao’s chosen outfit. After all, Sano would be there to discourage anybody who got too annoying. And, she reminded herself, she’d already decided that she was going to try to find somebody she wouldn’t mind being in a relationship with. 

Well, maybe not a _relationship_ , she amended, pulling on the black leather pants Misao had found for her. Someone she could spend time with socially, go to the movies with, grab dinner with.... possibly sleep with to eliminate the possibility that a demon wanted her as a virgin sacrifice...

_‘He certainly hasn’t been acting as if he needs you to stay a virgin...’_ a sarcastic voice in her head piped up, bringing a host of memories that made her cheeks turn bright red.

“Kaoru?” Misao’s voice piped up from the living room “Do you need help with anything?”

_‘Deep breaths, deep breaths; thoughts of things other than Kenshin’s mouth on your neck, on your mouth.... dammit! School exams. Cafeteria fish fry. Shopping expedition with Misao and Megumi... wait a minute... Misao said something about... next weekend... shopping...... oh....Cremona Gardens on a pogo stick...I thought it was bad when it was just one of them.....’_

Taking a deep breath to fortify herself against present and future fashion terrors, Kaoru headed out into the living room.

Misao had practically covered the coffee table with cosmetics, including some Kaoru couldn’t imagine a use for, and was holding a bottle of what Kaoru hoped wasn’t the temporary hair coloring Misao had promised she wouldn’t use again after that last incident.

Oh... she was just doomed, she knew it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Chapter: It’s murder on the dance floor... but you’d better not kill the groove...
> 
> Author’s Note: Short chapter; it’s been that kind of week. Yeah. Um....However, next week’s chapter will be much longer, to make up for it. And, we shall finally arrive at the long-awaited club scene. In other news, the wonderful Dragonsdaughter has done another lovely fanart picture, “If I Burn This, Do You Think She’ll Believe It Was An Accident?” featuring Kaoru contemplating. And being contemplated. Hee. The address is: http://dragondee(dot)deviantart(dot)com/. If you haven’t seen her other “Moonlight” pictures, check them out as well!
> 
> In this chapter, I do not own: The “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” episode “I Was Made to Love You,” “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy,” the fairy tale with the egg, the title of which I do not remember, Dorothy L. Sayers’ “Strong Poison,” “The Lord of the Rings,” or Sophie Ellis Bextor’s ‘Murder on the dance floor”.


	14. Bow and Arrow

In order to understand the decoration scheme at Killer Bluez, all you really had to know was that it belonged to a friend of Misao’s. In fact, converting the former warehouse into a three-story dance club and bar had been Misao’s senior design project for her architecture degree.

Kaoru leaned against the railing on the third level and looked down at the masses of people milling about amidst the brightly colored lights of the dance floor. She was currently alternating between watching a couple whose attempts to incorporate swing dancing moves into a pop and techno music mix was bound to result in serious bodily injury to themselves or others, given the crowds, and a woman who seemed to be trying to juggle two different men, both on and off the dance floor.

“We are bringing you the drinks in Bavaria; yes, in Bavaria, where the sheep seldom wear spectacles!” Misao proclaimed cheerfully as she approached the table, carrying two very colorful-looking drinks with complicated garnishes involving fruit and little paper umbrellas.

“Speaking of spectacles, Misao, do you _have_ to make one of yourself at every opportunity?” Kaoru shot back, blushing slightly as her friend’s exuberance caused several stares in their direction.

“What?” Misao said, looking around. Then, switching topics with her usual speed and randomness, she continued “Hey, I think you’re right about film noir hat trends.... there was this guy downstairs in one of those fedora thingies... or possibly he’s a leftover from the 1940s; he really didn’t look like he had any idea what he was doing in a dance club.”

“Well, maybe he can wander onto the floor and get attacked by the Swing People—did you see them?” 

Misao leaned over the balcony and said, “No, but – HEY! SANO! MEGUMI! UP HERE!”

Kaoru began to wonder if hiding under the table was a viable option for the rest of the evening.

When their other friends arrived, they had both already gotten drinks—beer for Sano, and some kind of classic, elegant cocktail Kaoru couldn’t remember the name of for Megumi.

_‘The day that Megumi gets a cocktail that’s got little paper umbrellas and fruit in it is the day Dad asks me to prepare the family Thanksgiving dinner by myself... good grief, she even _ drinks_ it like she’s in a black and white movie.. Sano’s going to need to buy himself a hat....’_

“Wow, Missy, _that_ is a sharp outfit!” Sano said, admiringly.

Kaoru blushed, but Misao leapt in, “Isn’t it great? Kaoru and I picked it out last week. Well, I picked it out and Kaoru protested. But it’s great, and I don’t know why she kept complaining and threatening to smuggle a burlap sack into the club with her.”

“Because, Misao, the last time I let you pick my outfit for an evening out I ended up getting propositioned by a table of drunken senior citizens!” Kaoru said, taking a large sip of her drink to block out _that_ particular memory.

“Oh, please, I refuse to be held responsible for the idiocies of others. Besides which, there are no senior citizens here tonight, you look fabulous, and there is a very cute guy over there who’s just waiting to ask you to dance.”

“Huh?” Kaoru spun sharply, her nerves on alert. She relaxed when she realized that the boy in question had mild blue eyes, cropped blonde hair, and a very nervous expression that rapidly turned into a blush when he caught her looking back at him.

“Don’t stare! You’ll scare him off!” Megumi teased laughingly. Kaoru rolled her eyes. No use in pointing out that she didn’t want a guy who was going to run off the minute the object of his interest showed signs of being interested in return.

Besides which, she was looking for normal and harmless, right? If slightly nervous.... possibly boring... were side effects, so be it.

“Go _over_ there!” Misao hissed in an excited stage whisper. “See, this is your problem; you come to these places, and then you never make a move, and if you don’t get in there and _make_ a move, you’re never going... to... find....”

Kaoru had already opened her mouth to acerbically comment that the only reason she _came_ to these places was because her friends dragged her out to them, not because she was looking for a man... well, except for tonight, but that didn’t count. Then she realized that Misao had trailed off mid-sentence, and was staring, mouth slightly agape, over towards one corner of the room.

Kaoru blinked, then followed the line of Misao’s vision to where a tall, slim man in a black suit and pristine white trenchcoat was leaning against the wall with an air of utterly cool nonchalance. He seemed to occupy a completely different space from the noise of the music and chatter filling the club. Black bangs fell across his forehead, and eyes the color of light reflecting through glacial ice scanned the crowds, not seeming to notice the girl with the long braid who was staring at him.

_‘_ The phosphorescent wave on a tropical sea... _’_ Kaoru thought as she looked at him.

“Wow, guys, check it out; the Weasel’s gone speechless...” Sano said

“Please don’t say that,” Megumi implored, “I think I read somewhere that that’s a sign of the impending Apocalypse.”

Finally blinking and turning back to her friends, Misao said, “Um... I’m going to... I have to... bye, guys!” she finally finished, dashing off, her drink forgotten.

Sano laughed so hard he almost choked on his beer, and Megumi had to hit his back several times. Kaoru was pretty sure it wasn’t her imagination that her cousin was pounding on him slightly harder than absolutely necessary.

When he finally recovered enough to speak, Sano said, “Twenty bucks on the Weasel Girl.”

“To do what?” Kaoru said, giggling as she picked up her drink.

Sano looked puzzled. “Um... uh... well, twenty bucks that Trenchcoat Boy won’t know what hit him.”

“Oh, I think that we all know better than to take _that_ bet,” Megumi chuckled.

“Hear, hear!” Kaoru seconded, raising her glass. She paused after taking a drink and said, “What’s she doing now?”

Sano looked over in the direction Misao had dashed and reported, “Well, she seems to have gotten over the being struck silent thing just fine... and the need to breathe.... Wow, if he actually believes that that was _really_ an accident, I don’t think he’s got the brains to keep up with our Misao...”

“What? What? What’d she do?” Kaoru said excitedly

“If you’re that interested, why aren’t _you_ looking, Missy?”

“Don’t be silly, Sano; it would be rude for me to turn around and stare at her.”

“Oh, but having me do it is ok?”

“Of course; you’re much ruder than I am,” Kaoru replied casually, twirling the paper parasol from her drink between her fingers.

Sano opened his mouth indignantly, but before he could come up with a response, a quiet voice from behind Kaoru said, “Um? Miss? Hi? Um... I’m Roger. Er. I was wondering... that is... would you like to... I mean, er....Hi, I’m Roger.”

Kaoru turned and blinked at the blond standing there, his hands at his sides as if he was holding them back from wringing them nervously.

_‘Well, if I was coming up to talk to a stranger who was wearing this outfit, I suppose that I would be nervous too!’_ she thought, _‘Don’t laugh at him, Kaoru, whatever you do; you’ll not only stomp all over his fragile male ego, Sano will never let you forget it after that “ruder than I am” comment... serious thoughts, serious thoughts.... nineteenth century Russian social conditions.... destruction of the tropical rainforests.... amnesiac puppies....’_

Having composed her expression into something that she hoped was friendly but not _too_ friendly, Kaoru said, “Hi, Roger. I’m Kaoru, This is Sano and Megumi.”

“Hi... hi...” Roger said, nodding at the other two. “Um... Kaoru? Would you like to, er, dance? With me?”

“That sounds lovely!” Kaoru said. She realized that she was talking to him in the same calming tone she used for nervous students and winced internally. Less than ideal in terms of somebody she would want to be in a relationship with, even a distractionary one. On the other hand, she consoled herself, it was probably just nerves, and once he had relaxed, he would turn out to be be a perfectly charming conversationalist. She didn’t know anybody who didn’t at least occasionally get nervous and have trouble putting a sentence together, except for.... well, actually, now she couldn’t even say that about Misao.

Kaoru wasn’t entirely certain that that made her feel much better as she put her drink down before Roger took her hand to lead her to the dance floor.

* * *

The music was fairly fast, and loud, so at least neither of them had to worry about a conversation. 

_‘Right, so, the plan is, dance with him until he’s more comfortable, then drag him off to get some drinks and have a conversation. Followed by either more dancing, if he’s good at it when he’s not busy being nervous, and then meeting back up with Sano and Megumi..... if I think it won’t traumatize him or me excessively.”_

Kaoru got lost in the feel of the beat, the glow of the lights on the dance floor. After a slightly shaky start, Roger seemed to be getting the hang of it, and Kaoru gave him an encouraging, possibly slightly flirtatious, look and spun so that she was facing the same direction while dancing in front of him as the song changed to something slower.

_‘I’m tired... of playing... Playing with this bow and arrow...Gonna give my heart away; Leave it to the other girls to play...For I’ve been a temptress too long...’_ she mentally sang to herself. _‘If Misao is going to make me wear these pants, I might as well make the most of them... I can’t believe I just thought that; Weasel Girl is wearing off on me...’_

Fortunately, time on the dance floor seemed to have gotten Roger to stop being nervous. He was moving more smoothly, in time with the music instead of the way he’d always been slightly off-beat with the faster tune. It was easy to let herself synchronize her movements to his, to feel the warmth of his body behind hers as he moved.

_‘Give me a reason to love you... give me a reason to be....a woman...’_ Kaoru automatically sang under her breath along with the lyrics, even though she was finding it harder to concentrate on the words now that the dancing was...was.... well, harder to ignore.

Swaying her body to the beat and the bass line, Kaoru slowly raised her arms up to briefly touch the hair at her temples with curved hands before lowering them again in time with the rhythm. As she moved, his hands came out to hold her waist briefly, staying there just long enough to let her feel the strength in his long fingers, the warmth of his palms. Then he moved slightly away from her skin and up over her ribs, ghosting upwards to trace the curve of her breasts. Kaoru was sure that her gasp was audible. He wasn’t touching her, but his warmth, the sense of him being so close to her, was making her nerves shoot off sparks along the path his hands were taking. She was having a hard time keeping her thoughts collected, beyond a vague feeling of surprise that Roger had either gotten over his nervousness or was both too nervous to actually touch her and unaware of the havoc his almost-touching was capable of wreaking.

Then one of his his hands touched the side of her neck, tracing a pattern up to her ear and then moving her hair away before leaning in. She felt a puff of warm air before his lips brushed against the nape of her neck, slowly, not quite enough to be a kiss, but tracing patterns she couldn’t begin to decipher, making the blood hum dizzily in her veins as he continued, one arm sliding to circle her waist and pull her against him. Forgetting further thought, Kaoru let herself lean back, her eyes falling closed as she ran one hand up his arm, feeling the way his muscles tensed under her touch as she traced lightly up to his shoulder, to where she could feel his hair trailing forward like warm silk as he leaned towards her...

Wait a minute.

Kaoru’s eyes flew open, and she yanked, _hard_ , on the strands between her fingers as she spun around, gritting her teeth and trying to calm the frantic racing of her heart, or at least blame it on her sudden shift to fury. Amber eyes, pupils slightly dilated, looked down at her from a face framed with long, red hair.

“ _You.._.” Kaoru spat out, then swallowed and tried again. She went to step away from Kenshin, but realized that he’d kept his arm around her waist as she spun, so that she could only retreat a few inches and give him a glare that by all rights should have incinerated him where he stood.

“What the _hell_ are you doing here, you bastard? And... and what did you do with Roger?”

He quirked one eyebrow at her and showed no sign of letting go. “Roger?”

“The man—the _gentleman_ — who very politely asked me to dance, and with whom I was having a perfectly nice time. What. Did. You. Do.”

“Nothing! ... Permanent,” Kenshin amended, no hint of repentance in his tone or expression.

“I swear, I am going to kick you so hard...”

“Ah, ah, ah, kitten; be careful; you’re the one who pointed out that sort of thing only works if it’s not announced in advance.

There was something both amused and covetous in his expression, and Kaoru couldn’t resist an attempt to stomp on his foot in spite of knowing that he would be able to dodge it. Which he did.

“Let go of me!” she hissed, “What do you think you’re _doing_ , out on the dance floor, with the...the... dancing and the... the...”

“Nuzzling?” Kenshin supplied helpfully.

Her face was turning red because she was embarrassed and angry, she told herself, not because the fact that he’d said it was making the nerves along the nape of her neck tingle with the memory of how it had felt. 

“We are in _public_ , you idiot, where there are people, who aren’t blind, and if that’s your idea of subtlety, you need to have your brain removed!”

He shrugged. “Who on earth said I was trying to be subtle?”

Her hand was swinging towards him, nails curving, before she even realized it. He caught her wrist with a spark of wicked amusement in his eyes, holding her hand so that she was just out of reach of his face.

“Now, now, kitten. No scratching. Well,” he corrected, “not in public.”

“Let. Go.” she hissed, aware that yelling would only draw attention to them. True, Kenshin had somehow managed to guide them both into a darker corner of the club when she was distracted, but making a fuss would alert Sano and Megumi and Misao, and there was no way that she was going to give them any hint whatsoever about Kenshin and his lack of subtlety.

“You know,” Kenshin purred, “I don’t know what you’re complaining about. You were obviously enjoying yourself...” he was moving his thumb in slow circles along her wrist and then up to her palm as he continued, “... the way that you were leaning into me...” he brought her hand upwards, his eyes never leaving hers, amber sparks swirling lazily in their depths.

“The way that your hand was clutching at me...” he gave her a wicked smirk that made her heart kick in her chest as he took her pinky into his mouth, enjoying the taste of her skin, the way that her eyes dilated as he nibbled gently and ran his tongue around her knuckle.

Kaoru couldn’t move, could barely remember to breath as Kenshin proceeded to kiss a path along her ring finger before giving it the same treatment. “The way that you were moving with me....” he nibbled a path along the next finger and sucked on it gently, his eyes never leaving her face. “Oh, yes, kitten...” he murmured silkily, “ I could feel how you were reacting to me... and I wasn’t even touching you...” he kissed his way back around to her palm, down to her wrist and placed his mouth on it, so that she could feel the sharp points of his fangs barely pressing against where her pulse was leaping erratically.

Kenshin was seriously considering dragging Kaoru someplace more private, someplace where he could see how she would react to him if his hands were actually touching her directly, someplace he wouldn’t have to worry about interruptions, or distractions, or noise levels. His other arm was holding her around her waist, automatically tightening as he felt her knees go weak.

_‘Oh, Kaoru, ´_ he thought, _‘you have no idea what you do to me; you’re not even trying....and I had no idea what to expect, not really...’_

He really was going to have to make some serious adjustments to his list if things kept going the way that they were. 

Before he could find the quickest way through the shadows in the corner of the nightclub, his ears picked up the sounds of familiar steps. Sighing, he pulled back and looked at Kaoru’s dazed expression with satisfaction. He leaned in and pressed a quick kiss to her forehead before she could recover and react, then moved to stand beside her, at a distance that made it clear that he was with her without making it look like he had, for example, just been nibbling on her wrist in a dark nightclub.

“Kaoru! How was... Kenshin? Hey, man, what are you doing here?” Sano said as he approached them, his arm around Megumi’s shoulder.

Kaoru, slowly regaining control over her breathing and her thought processes, wasn’t sure whether she was glad to see them or horrified that they were seeing her. With Kenshin. In what was not really a compromising position...well, not anymore, but considering the position that they _had_ been in...

_‘Breath. Breath, breath, breath, breath... don’t hyperventilate! Slooooooww breaths. Sano is saying something; probably not important....’_ Her thoughts were disorganized, spinning around in her mind, and she was looking for something to grasp onto.

_‘He...he... I TOLD him not to do that anymore... but I was dancing with him... but I didn’t know it was him... but really, what were the odds that somebody like Roger would suddenly figure out.... Roger! Why am I not more worried about what happened to... there was a demon nibbling my fingers... and my wrist.... and again with the neck, what is it with him and my neck and why is he so good at it and what does he think he’s DOING, and what am I going to do about it...’_

It was that last point that had Kaoru seriously confused. And a confused Kaoru who couldn’t see a way to immediately retreat someplace where she could think a situation through thoroughly, with the assistance of coffee and chocolate, tended to rapidly become a cranky Kaoru.

And the more serious and complicated the issue, the crankier Kaoru tended to be.

And, frankly, she couldn’t possibly imagine a more serious and complicated issue than a demon who she’d killed once after seeing him massacre a wide selection of jocks and cheerleaders, and who was now back, for reasons that couldn’t possibly be good, reasons she was fairly sure she was going to have to kill him for, and showing a disturbing tendency to back her into corners in hallways and kitchens and nightclubs...

And how the _hell_ , now that she thought about it, had he known where she was going to be?

Oh, now she was really getting pissed. She gritted her teeth as she finally and fully realized that Kenshin was still standing far too close, in front of her FRIENDS, no less, who were now going to start assuming things. 

The fact that Kaoru solidly stepped on Kenshin’s foot while adjusting her position and moving away from him made her feel slightly better, but not much.

She was still trying to unobtrusively work her way back into the conversation and hoping that nobody had noticed her absence.

Sano said, “Well, I figured that if we all went to the movie, we could grab food afterwards. Hey, Kaoru; you still up for providing that beer and Chinese food?”

Kaoru blinked. When had she offered to provide...oh. Right. Leave it to Sano to assume an invitation was generally valid until proven otherwise, rather than tied to a specific occasion.

She said calmly, “You know, Sano, that I said that I would _cook_ for you guys. Feel free to take up the invitation.”

“Hmm... if I’d known that that was an open invitation, I would have already done so,” Kenshin remarked.

Megumi snorted and said, “And if you knew anything about Kaoru’s cooking, you would have run screaming in the other direction. Really; come by the clinic sometime; I’ve got the slides to prove it.”

Sano, whose tolerance for any food, as long as it was free, was legend, said “Oh, come on, Meg; Kaoru may be fairly toxic in the kitchen, but I don’t think she’s ever actually _killed_ anybody...”

“Oh, I don’t know about that,” Kenshin remarked absently.

Kaoru narrowed her eyes at him and said, in a tone sugary enough to cause tooth decay, “Well, I think it’s just a question of practice, Megumi. I think that the important thing is to get something done right, because otherwise, it was a waste of time and effort, and you just have to do it again. More thoroughly. Which reminds me, Kenshin, here you’ve just moved, and I haven’t brought you a casserole or anything to welcome you into my apartment complex.”

“Don’t worry, ki-... Kaoru. I feel _very_..... welcomed.”

“Oh, you have no idea _how_ glad I am to hear that,” Kaoru said, still in that same tone. “Megumi, I think I need another drink. Something large and brightly colored, possibly that blue drink that they have.” ‘ _Preferably something that will make a spectacular splash all over a certain idiot’s red head...and possibly stain his hair bright blue..’_ “Do you want anything?”

Raising one eyebrow at the two who were clearly glaring daggers at each other behind their masks of civility, Megumi said, “Actually, I was just about to get another Gibson and catch up with the bartender; you stay here, Kaoru; I’ll be right back.”

Before Sano could do more than open his mouth to place his drink order, Megumi had spun on one immaculate heel and was making her way deftly towards the stairs leading up to the bar.

Kaoru said, “It’s so nice to have friends you can trust with something like just going and getting you a drink, not to mention trusting them to help you take care of the more important things in life, don’t you agree, Kenshin?”

“Absolutely!” Kenshin replied, “I was actually discussing something with a friend of mine here tonight; I’m not quite sure where he’s gotten to.”

“Well, then you should go and look for him. Soon. I suggest starting in the parking lot in case he’s already left.”

Kenshin, without turning to look at her, said, “No, no; no need; he can take care of...” Then he blinked. “Or not. Um... Isn’t that...”

He trailed off as Misao came barreling towards the group, dragging the man in the trenchcoat, whose expression still remained somewhere between calm and frozen. Kaoru was impressed; most people, after only a small dosage of Misao, had graduated to bemused, happy, or panicked....sometimes all three.

“Everybody, and umm..,” Misao stopped mid-sentence, tilting her head curiously as she looked at Kenshin.

“Kenshin,” supplied Sano helpfully.

“Everybody, and Kenshin, this is Aoshi. Aoshi, this is Sano, and Kaoru, and Kenshin, and where’s Megumi?”

“Getting drinks,” Sano said, “Hi, nice to meet you, Aoshi.”

Kaoru blinked. Had Kenshin just said... was he implying... “Aoshi, you’re a friend of Kenshin’s?”

Aoshi, without looking over at the red-headed man, nodded and said, “We’ve known each other for quite a while. I happened to be in town and thought I would catch up with him.”

Kaoru couldn’t find anything wrong with that answer—after all, Sano was also a friend of Kenshin’s--- but.... she wasn’t quite sure that she trusted this man, with eyes that somehow reminded her of Kenshin back in high school, and an air of reserve even a determined and slightly tipsy Misao couldn’t crack...

“So, what do you do?” she demanded “When you’re not visiting... friends?”

“Well, I’m currently in charge of running the family business,” Aoshi replied calmly. “It involves a lot of travel.”

Misao had finally dragged her eyes away from Aoshi and was looking over at Kenshin and cocking her head, consideringly.

Kaoru suddenly realized that she had been asking Aoshi about himself when she should have been making sure that Misao and Kenshin weren’t in the same room with each other. Ever. Ever, ever, ever. Because if the look on her face was anything to go by, she was two seconds away from remembering...

“Hey! Weren’t you at...” Misao started excitedly, before Kaoru, working to head off disaster, leapt in with, “Sano! That reminds me! Megumi and Misao and I are going shopping next weekend! All day! They’re going to re-do my wardrobe! Because, you know, Misao was so... helpful last week..” she finished in a rush, hoping that everybody else would be too startled that Kaoru was showing enthusiasm for clothes-shopping to remember what Misao had been starting to say.

_‘Come on, Weasel, take the nice bait... think about the shiny clothes, think about the possibilities of dragging me around in the mall all day, DON’T think back to high school, and popular boys, and your ridiculous suspicions that Kenshin might have been interested.. that I might have been...because I wasn’t... and he... I mean, I don’t think that... I mean...oh, hell, I really didn’t need another complication to be thinking about....’’_

Misao blinked at Kaoru’s statement, and opened her mouth to say something before closing it again abruptly.

There was a look in her eyes that Kaoru really, really didn’t like.

“That’s true,” she said, “Kaoru promised that she’d go shopping with us... and I know that Kaoru always keeps promises, even if they go back for a long, long time. Years, even.” 

“That’s because we’re such good friends, Misao,” Kaoru replied, “And good friends understand the importance of things like promises. And timing. For example, _you_ might think it would be a good idea for me to go shopping right away, tomorrow, for, um, boots. But I know that I really don’t need any boots, and even if I _did_ need boots, this is really not the right time.”

“Oh, Kaoru, you know that nowadays boots are appropriate for any time of year, and you can’t keep putting off boot-shopping forever. Especially since you promised I could help out, way back when we were in...”

“I admire your fashion sense, Misao, and you do have great taste in boots, especially recently, but every time you’ve tried to pick out a pair of boots... or other footware... for anybody else, the results have not been pretty. Disastrous, even. Like the boots you picked out for Tae last Christmas. That was not good.”

“How was I supposed to know she already had some that she really liked? Speaking of ‘liked,” Kaoru, just the other day, I saw that pair of boots you were crazy about all...”

“Oh, that was _ages_ ago,” Kaoru said, “And I was never really interested; they don’t match anything I have.”

Sano looked at each of the two of them in turn and then said, “This is one of those conversations with subtext, isn’t it?”

“Don’t be silly, Sano,” Kaoru snapped, her eyes never leaving her staring contest with Misao.

“We’re just talking about fashion,” Misao said, “Just because it bores you, Rooster Boy, doesn’t mean you should complain. You can always talk about something unrelated.”

“I, for example,” Kaoru piped up, “am now going to ask where Megumi is with my giant blue drink, and then I may go and look for her, if I feel like it by the time I finish the question. Here goes. Good heavens, where on earth could Megumi be with that giant blue drink I asked her to get? And, indeed, I am going to go look for her. And that drink. ‘Bye, guys; I’ll be right back!”

And with that, she turned and headed towards the bar, ignoring the prickling on the back of her neck that told her that if she turned around, there would be a pair of amber-sparked eyes watching her appreciatively.

After several minutes had passed, during which Sano and Kenshin had chatted and Aoshi had occasionally contributed a syllable or two, Sano turned to Misao and said, “Bathroom window?”

Misao nodded, “Oh, I expect so. It’s what she usually does, but since she can’t manage to change her phone number over the weekend, let alone move, I’m not really worried that she’s going to escape.”

Kenshin looked puzzled for a brief moment, then said, “You mean that Kaoru’s gone out the window? In the bathroom? How did she manage that?”

“These windows in the women’s bathrooms were designed for easy escapes,” Sano said wryly.

“Hey! You say that like it’s a bad thing!” Misao complained.

* * *

Kaoru muttered under her breath as she headed back home. This was why she had made a mental vow never to let Misao, and Misao alone, be responsible for transportation home whenever she got dragged out dancing.

Well, maybe not _exactly_ this, with the bad high school memories and the demons and the bad shoe metaphors, but close enough, darn it! 

As she stomped down the street, Kaoru was at least glad that her feet didn’t hurt after a night of dancing and, well, stomping. She supposed that she could at least be thankful that Misao had good taste in boots. Actual boots, she amended. Like the ones she was wearing. Not... hypothetical, nonexistent boots. Which she didn’t need. 

_‘This darned top, on the other hand... at least I can be glad it’s not actually raining. Yet... tut, tut, it looks like rain... that would be the perfect ending to a perfect evening, now wouldn’t it... At least the neighborhood isn’t dangerous and I don’t have to worry about...’_

“You know, kitten, it’s a little bit cold for you to be running around like that...” Kenshin drawled from where he was leaning against a streetlamp, the light shining on the highlights in his dark red hair and the black leather of his jacket.

Kaoru managed not to jump or scream or bolt, although she kind of regretted that last one. Bolting would have been good, and she was fairly sure her new boots could put up with the workout.

“I’m perfectly fine. Thank you for your concern; now go away. I’m going home, and there’s no reason for you to...”

“Forget that I live in the same complex, kitten?”

_‘Err... Curses, foiled again.’_ “Oh, but you shouldn’t just abandon your friend, who made a special trip just to see...”

“Aoshi can take care of himself,” he interrupted smoothly. “And I don’t think that your friend... Misao, right? That Misao would appreciate my interruption.”

In spite of her general annoyance, Kaoru managed a small prayer of thanks that Kenshin had apparently been too popular in his brief time at their school to notice Misao—or at least that he wasn’t remembering her. 

“And how, exactly, _do_ you know Aoshi?” she demanded, jumping back to the issue that had been nagging her.

Kenshin pushed himself away from the lamppost and started walking towards her with his usual calm, stalking pace. 

“As he said... we’re old friends....”

She glared at him and snorted. “And what exactly do you mean by “friends”?”

“The usual sort of thing that people mean. Why do you find that so hard to believe?”

“What do you think?” she shot back, eyes flashing blue fire.

“I think,” Kenshin said, “that you look cold, kitten.” He took off his jacket with an easy swinging motion as he walked towards her.

Kaoru crossed her arms over her stomach, refusing to acknowledge that he was in any way right, and raised her chin as she replied, “I’m fine. I don’t need your jacket. I don’t want...”

And then her words were cut off as a pair of arms went around her like iron bands, and her breath caught in her throat as she was assaulted by a smell like something long dead and buried and dug up again to walk the earth...

...and her ears were filled with a cacophony of insane laughter and a voice crying out, “I see! I see that this girl is your woman, _Battousai_!”

Kaoru struggled, kicking and trying to get leverage to claw, but she was being held several feet off the ground, so tightly she could hardly pull air into her lungs.

_“Jineh!!”_ Kenshin snarled, his eyes blazing, his lips curled back so that the light glinted off the sharpness of fangs.

“Get angry!” the madman demanded, “I want to see you get angry, Battousai!”

If she hadn’t been pinned and struggling to free herself, Kaoru would have rolled her eyes. What did he think Kenshin was _now_ , gleeful and chipper?

But whatever response Kenshin made, or would have made, was lost to her as she felt a sharp pain in the back of her head, and then the world went black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Chapter: Kenshin sits down with Jineh over a nice cup of tea and some scones and politely explains why kidnapping young women in dark alleys is Not the Done Thing.
> 
> In this chapter I do not own: A.A. Milne’s “Winnie the Pooh,” Rush’s fabulous song “Cold Fire,” the amazing and sexy “Glory Box,” by Portishead, and a Monty Python reference so obscure I will be shocked if anybody gets it and may feel compelled to give out prizes.
> 
> Author’s Note: Whee! The long-awaited club scene! And many other things! Trenchcoats! Fedoras! Giant blue drinks! This is a longer chapter between two shorter chapters... or else next week will be a shorter chapter between two longer chapters, take your pick.


	15. Shortcuts and Shadows

The shortcuts Kenshin was taking were almost recklessly dangerous, taking him through areas that crawled with darkness, places of shadow nobody in their right minds would think of traversing.

He didn’t fucking care.

Anything that came near him, anything that tried to stop him, would be exterminated before it had had time to realize it.

The look of utter, absolute, deadly fury on his face as he tore through the shadows was more than enough to keep everything away, hiding and chattering in terror.

_‘He will pay for this. I will make sure of that... and if he’s hurt her, if he’s **touched** her, I will tear him to screaming, bloody pieces, and then see that he gets put back together just so that I can spend the next hundred years doing it again. How dare he, how _dare_ that son of a bitch touch what’s _mine_...”_

Kenshin almost hoped that something would be blindly stupid enough to attack him, just to give him a chance to siphon off some of the incandescent rage filling him.

A rage which, he was forced to admit, was partially self-directed. 

_‘I should have known; I should have taken precautions, no matter how angry it would have made her... He must have been watching her, waiting for a chance....’_ The thought sickened him, the idea that he had been so careless as to allow Jineh to realize that Kaoru was something worth following.

_‘That night I thought I sensed him... it wasn’t me he was watching, he must have waited until Kaoru went into the building and then he left.... it was all that he needed to know...._

_If he’s hurt her, there will be no pain, no suffering, too great for him to endure....’_

Stepping out of the shadows and onto the sidewalk in front of the Kamiya household, Kenshin closed his eyes tightly and took several deep breaths, knowing full well that he needed to get his expression under control before he knocked on the door, no matter what his emotions were like.

In spite of his resolution, the pounding on the door was forceful enough to rattle the frame, and when Yahiko opened the door, blinking sleepily, Kenshin was sure the boy was carrying a shinai in his other hand.

“Yahiko, I need to see your sister’s room,” he said without preamble, walking in without an invitation.

“Um.. Kaoru’s.. room... um... what... why... Kenshin, do you know what time it is?”

Without turning around as he headed for the stairs, Kenshin said, “Yahiko, I believe that your sister hid... something of mine in the house, about five years ago. And it’s _very_ urgent that I get it back.”

“Something’s happened, hasn’t it? Something’s happened to Kaoru....” Yahiko blurted out, his eyes going wide.

Kenshin paused on the landing, lowering his head.

“Yes,” he admitted, “she... there is someone who... who....” He paused and swallowed. “There’s a problem I’ve been trying to... eliminate, Yahiko, something that’s been causing a lot of harm. And now... I underestimated it, and the thing that Kaoru hid....” 

_‘I need it to kill that bastard, to slice him into pieces, to leave his blood splashed across the floor for the rats to feed on...’_

“Um... Ken...shin?” Yahiko’s tone was hesitant, “This... thing... it’s a someone? And... they... hurt my sister?”

It was one of the hardest things Kenshin had ever had to force himself to say, but he answered truthfully, “He took her. Not because of... it was directed at me, not at Kaoru....”

_‘And I should have seen it coming...’_

“Can... Can you get her back?” Yahiko asked, coming up to stand next to Kenshin on the stairwell. 

“Yes.” Kenshin said, with no hesitation. No matter what the cost, he would get Kaoru back; he had already sworn that to himself, and to her.

Yahiko looked at his expression and then nodded once, sharply. “Ok. Kaoru’s old room is down the hall....”

As he opened the door, Kenshin could smell the traces of jasmine in the room, and they made something in his heart clench. He closed his eyes and tried to look for his sword, but found nothing.

_‘Well, it was worth a try, to see if I could find it when I’m in the same room... assuming that she hid it in her room in the first place instead of dumping it in a river... No; she would have wanted to keep an eye on it, she would have wanted to know exactly where it was at all times, I know her. And she wouldn’t have wanted to risk anybody else, in case it was dangerous... so it has to be here...’_

Yahiko was watching him curiously as Kenshin started to pace the room, eyes darting back and forth, brow furrowed in concentration.

“Um... Kenshin? If you tell me what it is you’re looking for, maybe I can help?” the boy offered.

Kenshin sighed. How could he explain that he was looking for a sheathed sword, probably wrapped up and hidden in something else? And clearly protected enough that even _he_ couldn’t find it, and he was attuned to the thing!

“I’m not sure what she’s put it in,” he admitted, “But... can you remember her bringing anything... unusual home, did anything odd happen, in the Spring of her senior year of high school?”

Yahiko’s expression turned thoughtful. “There was one thing.... it was right after Kaoru fainted.... we came home from lessons late, and she’d left dinner cooking, but wasn’t in the room.... then she came downstairs, and had this look on her face... and she didn’t really eat anything, and then when she got up from the table she fainted.... then the next day she stayed home from school and asked if Grandpa could stay with her.. that was weird, because, well, Grandpa is a little crazy, and if you’re sick, he keeps going on about evil spirits and stuff and trying to burn incense in the room...”

Kenshin nodded. That made sense. If their grandfather was a sorcerer, or a priest, then of course Kaoru would call him. And Kaoru had stayed in her room that day, which confirmed his earlier beliefs. 

Had she given the sword to her grandfather, to take away and hide? He paused. If that was the case, Kenshin was in the wrong room, in the wrong building, maybe in the wrong town, and that meant that...

_‘NO! I will not become distracted by useless.... Kaoru would not have exposed other members of her family to the danger that something nasty would come after that sword... she would not have risked her grandfather’s life by burdening him with something like that. It has to be here.’_

But anything mystical, like a sealing spell, should be something he could pick up on. And there was nothing he could detect, nothing at all, no signs of shielding or magic or...

Kenshin paused in his thoughts.

There was nothing he could detect.

Maybe he was looking for the wrong thing.

He had been assuming, all these years, that Kaoru would have tried to shield the sword so that nobody could get to it. What if her grandfather had done something else altogether?

He didn’t pray very often, but he muttered a short prayer under his breath as he looked more closely at the currents, the energies in the room.

There... like a rock in a streambed, an interruption that the water flowed around and over without a disturbance in the surface....

Under the bed.

Kenshin lifted the end of the bed and moved it easily, to Yahiko’s shock. There were several plastic containers, containing various odds and ends and out-grown clothing, and, he suspected, a few Misao-purchases Kaoru was trying to hide from her friends. He moved the boxes out of the way and looked at the floorboards. 

Even though part of him wanted to punch the floor, he took the time to find the loose board and pull it up.

The space underneath the board was papered and painted with symbols that sparked peevishly as they were disturbed. And there, in the middle, wrapped in enough charms to make it look like nothing more than a bundle of ragged paper, stained by the years, was his sword, the very top of the hilt poking forlornly out of the mess.

Kenshin picked it up as quickly as thought, ignoring the static-shocks of the charms pasted on it. If the situation hadn’t been so deadly serious, he would have laughed. This set of half-rate charms had been enough to confuse him for all these years?

He supposed this should serve as a lesson; he’d been expecting something grandiose, something powerful that would repel any attempts to get the sword, like a safe that needed to be broken into by force or stealth... and instead... instead, Kaoru’s grandfather had done the equivalent of hiding it under a blanket in the corner of the room and “encouraging” people not to look there, making it invisible unless you knew that it was there and looked for something hidden.

Yahiko swallowed and said, “Um... Kenshin? Is that... that’s a sword... what kind of trouble... why do you need...” he trailed off.

Kenshin had finished removing the annoying paper charms from the sword, not even wincing at the slight jolts every time he touched one. He stuck the sword through his belt and pulled his coat over it.

“Thank you, Yahiko. I promise that I’ll bring Kaoru back safely.” Finding his sword again had calmed him slightly.... well, in the sense that he was now convinced with an iron certainty that there was nothing on Earth or in any part of Hell that could save Jineh from his fate. 

“I’m coming with you!” Yahiko exclaimed, lifting his shinai, “She’s my sister, and she’s the Assistant Master of our school; if she’s in trouble, I have a responsibility...”

“ _No_!” Kenshin said sharply, then continued more gently, “Yahiko, this is a dangerous situation; if anything happened to you, if Kaoru knew that I’d brought you into danger... she’d never forgive me; you know that. And I’d never forgive myself either.... Please, I know that you want to help, but there really isn’t anything that you can do this time, Yahiko.”

After staring into the redhead’s eyes for several long moments, Yahiko lowered his eyes and nodded.

“Ok... but, Kenshin?”

“Yes?” Kenshin said as he was leaving the room.

“If anything happens to her, I’m going to come after you. Seriously. I mean it.”

A half-smile quirked Kenshin’s mouth. _‘Easy to tell that they’re related,’_ he thought.

“Yes, Yahiko. I’m sure that you would.”

And with that, Kenshin was out the door, down the stairs, and back into the shadows, letting fury consume him again, drawing his own sword for the first time in years, which sparked the same burning amber as his eyes as he brandished the blade and snarled into the darkness.

_‘Jineh... you are doomed and damned to the depths of Hell, and this time, when I’m done with you, not even you will be able to crawl back out again...’_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter: Tea and cookies. Or possibly sharp, pointy things and occasional disturbing squish-type noises.
> 
> Author’s Notes: Well, that was unexpected, huh? As I said, a short chapter sandwiched between two longer chapters. I tried to think of ways to make it longer, but this is really just a short incident that needed to stand alone. Plus, did I mention my schedule? Gah....
> 
> In this chapter I: don’t actually quote anything. How about that.


	16. Poor Little Falcon

Kaoru swam slowly back to awareness, wincing, her nose filled with the scent of old blood, and her head filled with an iron determination to never, ever, _ever_ let Misao drag her out to a nightclub again. 

And this time, she meant it.

_‘Floor...’_ she thought, trying to piece together her surroundings.... _‘Cold cement.... patches of moonlight... pieces of glass... breeze coming in through broken window_ s...’ When she tried to sit up, she realized that her wrists had been bound together in front of her with a rough rope, and it took her several minutes to wriggle her way into a sitting position so that she could ascertain more about wherever the hell she had been dragged by..... by....

Who exactly had kidnapped her, anyway?

_‘I went out the window, and then I was heading home... Kenshin showed up; of course Kenshin showed up, he has the most annoying habits... and then...’_ The memory of an iron-tight grip, and maniacal laughter filled her head, a man who had grabbed her and held her with no more trouble than if she’d weighed nothing at all, a man who had said...

_“I see! I see that this girl is your woman, Battousai!”_

_‘His WHAT???’_ Kaoru thought, in utter shock. _‘That... that... maniac thought... thinks....he took me because he thinks that I’m....Oh, I’m going to absolutely KILL him...’_

And even she couldn’t say with utter certainty which of the two men—two demons, she corrected—she was referring to. Possibly both of them.

Swallowing and trying not to gag on the stench in the room, Kaoru looked around. She had been tossed roughly onto the concrete floor, and she could tell that she was going to have a bruise on one elbow in the morning. The building appeared to be industrial, and long abandoned, the wind whistling mournfully through the holes in the roof, bricks and bits of glass littering the floor. 

There were... other things in the far corner, things that she was fairly sure were the cause of the smell, but she really didn’t think it was a good idea to look at them too closely.

_‘So, Kaoru, how was your day today?’_ she asked herself, _‘Well, gee, it started out fairly normally, but then one of my crazy friends made me wear an outfit that is probably illegal in at least three states, and put stripes in my hair when I wasn’t paying attention, even though she promised that she would never do that again. Then I went to a nightclub, which was very loud, and I was dancing with a perfectly nice boy, and then suddenly I wasn’t, because there was a demon who has NO concept of the definition of personal space, and who continues to be entirely too fond of my neck, and then Misao remembered Kenshin from high school and I tried to head her off by agreeing to shop, and it wasn’t really working, so I left, and a demon offered me his coat, but before I could come up with a cutting reply, another demon grabbed me and knocked me out, and now I’m tied up in an abandoned factory somewhere...’_

_‘All in all, not my best day...’_

Gritting her teeth, Kaoru tried to get enough leverage to stand up. With her hands in front of her, it was much more difficult, and she decided that she was going to have to make her way over to the wall if she wanted to have any luck with it at all.

Not for the first time, she regretted that Misao picked nightclub outfits as if there was a global fabric shortage. 

_‘Ok...ok....I think I can avoid the broken glass... damn, the pieces don’t seem to be big enough to try to cut the ropes.... but maybe there’s a piece in one of the window frames that I can use once I’m on my feet again... darn it, why does scootching across the floor on my butt have to be the only way I can get over to the wall...’_

Before she had gotten more than a few feet, there was the noise of rusty hinges as a door she hadn’t noticed creaked open.

Kaoru froze.

The man who came through the door was wearing a long duster, the color of dirt and shadows, and a hat that shone like a beetle’s shell in the moonlight through the broken window. 

_‘So that’s why I kept seeing fedoras,’_ she thought distractedly, _‘although that’s not really technically a fedora, I suppose... too shiny, and the lines aren’t quite... what is this, comparative haberdashery? Focus! Now you know that this... this maniac has been following you around for at least a couple of days... That’s... that’s not good.... How much does he know about me? About my friends?”_

He walked over to where she sat, and as he lifted his head to look at her, Kaoru repressed a shudder. Crazed eyes, eyes that no longer held even the memory of sanity, and a rictus grin that stretched across his face like something shattered and broken....

“Poor little falcon, had her wings clipped,” the man— _‘Jineh,’_ she thought, remembering Kenshin’s furious, snarled scream, said, in a harsh crooning voice that sent a shudder down her spine.

Jineh bent down and hauled her up by the cords holding her wrists. The rope bit into her skin, but she clenched her teeth and didn’t make a sound, contenting herself with glaring up at him with contemptuous fury.

“Battousai’s woman,” Jineh murmured, “I never thought that one would find a woman worth taking... I wonder exactly what it is that he sees in you, hmmm?”

This close, she could see more details than she wanted to of the dark, rusty stains splashed across his coat, the jagged, yellowing edges of his teeth. 

_‘Not to mention the fact that he really doesn’t smell very good....,’_ she thought, wincing.

She was proud of the fact that she wasn’t shaking. Or kicking, since she didn’t want him to decide to tie her ankles.

He leaned slightly closer, and Kaoru stiffened.

_‘If this one goes for my neck too, I think I’m going to be sick...all over him, which would serve him right, the bastard...’_

Fortunately, Jineh didn’t get near her skin, or her hair, and his hands never strayed from their nervous, twisting grip on the rope.

“He’ll come here, you know.... looking for you.... oh, yes, he will; I should thank you, you know; I’ve been looking for a way to make him angry for such a very long time.... it isn’t any fun if he’s not angry...”

_‘Oooookay... just keep quiet and don’t bother the crazy babbling lunatic who’s got you tied up in an abandoned warehouse....’_

“Poor little falcon,” he said again, leaning so that his breath ghosted across her ear, speaking in a conspiratorial whisper, “Don’t worry; a girl like you is special, someone who can attract the attention of someone like him, all sharpness and skill with his blade.... that’s someone worth taking time with; no anonymous slashes in the dark, no banal endings in alleyways that nobody will think about once the blood has dried.... that’s no end for the woman who attracted the devotion of a legend like him.... You deserve to be remembered. I’ll make _sure_ that you’re remembered, oh, yes..... it’s alright; you don’t have to worry....”

_‘That is quite possibly the least reassuring thing I have ever heard,’_ Kaoru thought over the pounding of her blood in her ears, _‘But... but it sounds like it’s just me, not anybody else. Well... Kenshin... but... not my friends. Not my family._

_I think... I think I can bear... whatever’s going to happen as long as it’s just going to happen to me...’_

Jineh dropped her back down onto the floor without warning or ceremony, and she caught a glimpse of the sword under his coat as she went down.

He started pacing, his eyes roaming restlessly around the room, and she wasn’t even sure he was talking to her anymore as he continued, “Battousai... he’s been hunting me for such a long time.... spoiling all my fun.... But now he has to come to me, to follow where I’m leading him, he thinks he’s hunting, but he’s going to be prey to my sword...”

If it wasn’t for the bone-deep certainty that attracting Jineh’s attention was an _extremely_ unwise idea, Kaoru would have taken the opportunity to ask exactly what Jineh meant by hunting, what Kenshin’s reasons were for coming after him. 

She really didn’t feel any need to ask about what “fun” Battousai had spoiled.

Jineh turned abruptly and looked at her and she froze.

“I need to be ready,” he said abruptly, “I need to be ready for when Battousai arrives, ready to enjoy his anger.... I can’t take the time that you deserve right now, and it isn’t any fun if we don’t play right.... “

Muttering under his breath, his eyes darting back and forth, he left the room, and Kaoru wasn’t even sure he really remembered that she was there. She heard the slow click of the lock after the door closed, and let herself relax slightly, exhaling.

She wasn’t dead yet, or even damaged. And it sounded like she wouldn’t be for a while... although it was also clear that he had some plans for her future that were going to be highly, highly unpleasant.

Kaoru closed her eyes and attempted to collect her thoughts. _’He didn’t take me for me; he took me because of Battousai, because of Kenshin. He took me to lure him here._

_I HATE being bait...’_

Alright. Now that the crazy psychopath with the sharp weapon was off lurking in some other part of the building, it was time to go back to Plan A, namely, Get These Ropes Off.

Good thing that Jineh seemed to have forgotten that female falcons were roughly three times the size of male ones, and with tempers to match.

Taking a deep breath, Kaoru put her hands on the floor between her legs. Rolling forward, she managed to bend her leg so that she was up on one knee, then use that leverage to get her other leg in position as well so that she could push herself up.

She swayed slightly, but managed not to fall. Which was good, because then she would have had to engage in another undignified scramble, and she really couldn’t waste the time.

One of the windows had a section where the wood was splintered around several large, jagged chunks of glass. She put the rope up against them, and started trying to saw it, back and forth, her world narrowing to concentrate on the rope, and the glass, ignoring the way her wrists and forearms were getting scratched by the rough wood.

_‘’She writhed her hands till her fingers were wet with sweat or blood’..... why can’t my brain come up with something useful in this situation, like the Boy Scout Handbook section on knots, or the Worst Case Scenario Handbook on escaping from a deranged kidnapper?’_

Finally, the rope fell to the floor. Kaoru resolutely ignored the bloodstains on it, and the pain in her arms. Free of the ropes wasn’t out of the room, and she really didn’t know how much time she was going to have.

_‘I need to get out of here before... before Kenshin shows up. Not that I’m accepting the words of Senor Psychopath that Kenshin is going to show up... ‘_ she thought, remembering Kenshin’s expression when Jineh had grabbed her, the way that he had _snarled_ the other man’s name. ‘ _but... it seemed pretty clear that Kenshin was going to come after him... and I’m not such an egoist as to think it’s because of poor little damsel-in-distress me, either... that’s one thing I think I DON’T believe that lunatic about...”_

Right now, she couldn’t spare the time and energy to investigate whether she didn’t believe Jineh’s rantings about Kenshin’s feelings, or if she didn’t _want_ to believe them.

_‘Focus on getting out of here, and running away from the demon... why does this scenario sound familiar.... Except that this time someone knows I’m here and is coming to save me... except... Well, now we get to the heart of the issue, don’t we... Jineh expects Kenshin to come charging in here, sword blazing, and Kenshin doesn’t have his sword... because I took it and got Grandpa to hide it so that nobody could see it even if they were looking straight at it... and then I put it under the floorboards to make sure nobody would be looking at it in the first place...’_

When Kaoru had insisted that her grandfather come to visit her the morning after The Incident, as she had called it at the time, he had been surprised when she had sat there, still and serious and pale, and poured out her story to him, showing him the sword, with the strange decorations on the hilt and blade that shimmered under the surface of the metal, the sheath that spoke of long usage. She had asked him to shield it, to ward it, to do _something_ , and he, regretfully, had informed her that he didn’t have the power to lock up such a powerful weapon. In fact, he had told her in no uncertain terms to tie several large bricks to it and throw it into a river; he couldn’t ward it, and without wards, it was sure to attract very nasty visitors.

So Kaoru had bit her lip and thought hard for several minutes before suggesting an alternate plan. After a moment of surprise, her grandfather had also considered it carefully before declaring excitedly that they could hide the sword so that nobody, human or demon, would see it; their search would just slide off of it, without giving any indication that it was there.

And she had been so proud of that plan, especially since Kenshin had made his presence known again. At the moment, however...

_‘Oh, gods: I strongly suspect that Kenshin can’t fight Jineh without his sword... that this isn’t a case of just being able to borrow an Uzi from... um... wherever you’d go to borrow automatic weapons at this time of night... Which means he’s going to be showing up here without it...and Jineh has a sword of his very, very own... and I’m sure he’s not afraid to use it...’_

Kaoru suddenly realized that she really didn’t want to see Kenshin sliced to pieces by a raving lunatic. Not just because it would mean that, well, the raving lunatic would have more time for her, but because she didn’t think Kenshin deserved it.

_‘If anybody’s going to get to kill him, it’s going to be me!’_ she thought fiercely, _‘Not some deranged slasher who... ok, last time I killed him, I was kind of in deranged slasher mode myself, but... but... that’s different! Jineh is permanently set to bend, fold, spindle, and mutilate, and... frankly, if Kenshin could eliminate him... I don’t think that would be a bad thing._

 _Which, Kaoru Kamiya, leads us to what conclusion, exactly? Fact: Jineh is an evil, deranged psycho nutcase with bad teeth. Fact: If Kenshin comes charging in here like an idiot, without his sword, which he doesn’t have because you hid it, then he’s going to get turned into sushi. Fact: Jineh thinks that you’re a helpless little hostage.... now that’s deja vu all over again... Fact: I really don’t like where all these facts are leading me...’_

Kaoru sighed. Looked like she needed to find a weapon. Again. Luckily for her, she was in an abandoned factory full of nasty sharp objects, many of them broken and rusty in what looked like potentially very damaging ways.

‘ _I wonder if demons can get tetanus...’_ she thought as she started trying to take stock of her surroundings. _‘Speaking of which, thank various gods I’m not wearing sandals...’_

Keeping a careful ear open for noise from the other side of the door—the door itself was a problem she’d deal with once she had some kind of plan for whatever she found on the other side--- Kaoru made a slow, careful circuit of the room. Including the more unpleasant parts in the corners, where white glimmers she was sure were bones were visible through tattered fabric.

_‘If it’s not sharp and pointy, it’s no use to me at the moment,’_ she thought, firmly.

By the end of her round, she had discovered something that might once have been a bucket, and had filled it about halfway with nails and some unidentifiable bits and pieces of metal. Reaching down, she slipped off one of her boots and pulled off one of her socks. She was glad now that she had insisted on wearing them with her new boots, in spite of Misao’s grumbles about fashion.

She filled the sock about halfway with the contents of the basket and tied a half-knot to keep everything in.

The glass shards weren’t big enough for her to handle without gloves, so she left them alone.

Now to tackle the door...

_‘Ok... Occam’s Razor: simplest solution first....’_ Kaoru thought, starting her attempts to escape by simply trying the door to see if it opened. It didn’t, of course, but at least she had tried. It would have been highly embarrassing to spend time trying to pick the lock and then have the door turn out to have been open in the first place.

She hoped that there wasn’t a padlock on the other side of the door, because she had no idea how to handle that particular situation. Looking in her basket, she tried to find something that she could use as a lockpick.

_‘Why couldn’t Misao have decided that I looked great in cargo pants, or anything with pockets where I could have kept my Swiss Army knife... or Kleenex, or anything at all, really... stupid form-fitting tight pants...’_

There was half a broken hanger, or what she thought probably used to be a hanger, and Kaoru managed to maneuver it into the lock before she put her ear to the door and manipulated the stiff wire.

_‘Never thought I’d be so grateful to Sano for the more disreputable parts of his past... ‘_

With a groaning squeal, the lock ground open, and Kaoru allowed herself a small moment of triumph. 

Now for the hard part.

_‘I can’t believe that my grand plan is to attack a crazed demon with a sock. Ok, granted, a sock full of very sharp and rusty junk, but still...’_

Peering carefully into the hallway, Kaoru could see no sign of Jineh. She couldn’t hear anything either, and really had no idea which direction to go.

_‘Eenie, meenie, miney, mo, catch a deranged violent demonic maniac.... well, left it is, then...’_

She moved as quietly as she could on the rough, debris-filled floor, all of her senses on alert.

It didn’t help.

There was a sudden movement out of shadows that she was _sure_ had been empty before, and one wrist was suddenly upwards with bruising force, so that she was almost dangling in the air, her feet struggling to maintain contact with the ground, her shoulder crying out in protest as the basket fell to the ground with a dull jangling noise.

Jineh stood there, looking at her with an expression of calm disappointment. He shook his head at her sadly and said, “I don’t think that you understand the rules. You’re not supposed to be wandering around and getting in the way, you know. Bothering people. I think I need to put you someplace where you won’t cause any more trouble, until after Battousai and I have gotten a chance to play.”

As he started dragging her back down the hallway, he continued, “Now you’re making me change my schedule; I was going to save all your screams for later, when there wasn’t any rush. Oh well.....”

Kaoru fought to give her feet some kind of traction, something like leverage, using what she knew from her kendo lessons. She twisted her hand so that she could momentarily grab Jineh’s wrist, something in her shrinking from the _wrong_ feeling of touching him, and brought the tied-off sock up in a sweeping arc, to connect solidly with his face. The fabric tore on impact, jagged bits and pieces connecting with a force she could feel up the length of her arm.

He screamed, a horrible, high sound, and dropped her wrist abruptly as he brought both hands up to where she had struck him.

The minute he let go, Kaoru took off down the corridor, not wanting to see what she had just done, not wanting to give him a chance to recover. She didn’t want to look at the remnants of the sock in her hand, didn’t want to see what was currently staining it, was fighting off nausea even as she ran, but she clenched her hand tightly.

The fact that she had just lost her only weapon was not something she wanted to think about, but the sock was losing bits and pieces of metal even as she ran, and she could tell that it wouldn’t be much good for a second strike. With a grimace, she forced her fingers to loosen and let it drop to the ground. No point in leaving a trail if she could help it.

_‘Ok, I have now lost the element of surprise... well, I mean, I used what I had of it effectively....’_ she thought, trying valiantly to block the memory of the unpleasant _squishing_ sounds when she had made contact with his face. 

She wondered how much time she had before he recovered enough to come after her.

She wondered where the hell the door to this place was, and what she would do once she’d found it. Her mind was focusing on a series of decidedly morbid last-stand-type thoughts, complete with theme music, and she wasn’t sure it didn’t have a point.

Because even if she could run away and find her way out of the building, and out of whatever hellish blotch of industrial blight the factory was undoubtedly located in, and back to her own neighborhood, there would still be the fact that Kenshin was going to come here looking for her, hopefully with more than a sock in his arsenal, but still without the one thing she was sure he would need to get rid of Jineh. She _really_ hadn’t liked the look of that sword under his coat.

_‘Damn it, damn it, damn it...’_ she thought furiously, racing down the corridor.

There was a door to her left, and she barreled through it at top speed, throwing her weight against it and stumbling slightly as it opened. She found herself in a large room, clearly part of what had once been the main factory production area The husks of old machines were scattered across the floor, connected by the remaining sections of the assembly line conveyer belts.

Letting her breathing slow, Kaoru looked around. Heavy industrial equipment. This was something she could potentially work with....

_‘I wonder if I should start hitting buttons to see if anything still works... no, no, no; think, Kaoru, do you really want to hang up a sign saying, “Here I am, come find me”? And I don’t imagine that I’m going to have the time to build some kind of fabulous MacGyver, A-Team, ‘I love it when a plan comes together’ kind of gadgetry. Simpler is definitely better.... Simpler and preferably sharp.’_

She found a length of pipe and picked it up as she started her search of the room, avoiding the glass from the broken skylights and using the pale moonlight to navigate.

_‘Move it, move it... wonder what these machines used to make, would it hel...’_

“Stupid, interfering _bitch!!”_ came a distorted shriek from behind her, and Kaoru barely had time to duck out of the way, almost losing her grip on the pipe as a hand slashed down to grab her.

She turned, brandishing the pipe, and almost threw up at the sight of Jineh’s face, or what was left of it. There were bits of metal embedded in his cheek, wounds weeping something slimy and black, his lip so damaged she could see the jagged edges of teeth, his nose was slashed and cut and bent... and his left eye was a ruin, what was left of it slowly oozing down the wreck of his face.

Kaoru backed away as he hissed insanely, words tumbling out in a rush that she couldn’t understand and didn’t want to, his intentions clear in the way his fingers were hooked into claws, the mad light in his remaining eye.

The pipe was a little longer and heavier than a bokken, but she shifted to one of the positions of Kamiya Kasshin, holding it in front of her, senses tuned to the fight, waiting.

Jineh was breathing hard, but she wasn’t dumb enough to think that it meant he wasn’t much stronger and still faster than she was.

She remembered a story she’d read once, where a woman had defeated an attacking cyclops by taking advantage of his lack of depth perception; she thought hard about whether she could do anything similar as she stood there.

When he moved, it was a blur, and she barely had time to bring up the pipe in an attempt to block.

And just like that, the top half of the pipe was gone, spinning across the dirty floor, the cut edge of the remaining piece glinting in the light.

“I’m going to cut you into little pieces and leave them for him to find, like bread crumbs,” Jineh spat, blood and spit spraying from his mouth, “I’m going to gouge those pretty eyes out and watch the way they reflect the moonlight then, bitch, and..”

Kaoru’s strike would have caught him across the ribs, but he blocked her, teeth grinding together in a grimace.

_‘Damn... hoped that the monologuing would distract him enough to....’_

Then thought stopped as she saw him move from blocking to attacking, the curve of his blade glittering in the light, and she knew it was the blow that would kill her, that there was no way she could block it even as she brought the pipe up to try, and part of her was at least relieved that she would be dead quickly, that no matter what happened to her body afterwards, at least she wouldn’t be able to feel it.

Kaoru refused to close her eyes as he swung, determined to face death with dignity and defiance...

And then there was a snarl and a yell of “ _JINEH!!!,_ ” a blur of red and a flash of silver, and amber sparks striking as two blades met...

Kenshin was standing in front of her, his hair wild and his eyes blazing with the fury of Hell, fangs bared as he held off Jineh’s attack with... his sword?

Kaoru blinked. Kenshin had... how had he... when did he find...

 _‘Well I guess he doesn’t need to keep backing me into convenient corners now_ ,” she thought, feeling slightly unsteady as her body caught up to the fact that it wasn’t actually going to die just yet.

Jineh laughed, a deranged giggle that Kaoru was sure was going to lurk in the corners of her memory. She looked over the determined set of Kenshin’s shoulders, eyes wide, to where the two blades met, to see Jineh standing there, an unholy expression of ecstasy lighting his face, including a left eye that seemed to be slowly knitting itself back together, along with the wounds on his cheek and nose.

_‘Eww... and... .eww...’_

“I knew you’d come, Battousai!” he said, and Kaoru once again had the feeling that he had forgotten her existence, had forgotten that there was anything in the world but his opponent, “Now it’s time for the fun to really begin!”

Kenshin voice was darkness and the edge of a blade. “Before I allow you to die, Jineh, you _will_ regret ever touching her.”

And before the other man could respond, he was in motion, sword swinging so quickly Kaoru couldn’t even follow its path, could only register the sparks when the two blades met once again.

Jineh’s manic grin was extremely disturbing, and his voice sounded almost rapturous as he said, “At last! I don’t think anything in the world could be more fun than this....”

Not bothering to dignify that comment with a response other than a tightening of his jaw and a deadly glare, Kenshin continued his attack. He leapt in and then back, and Kaoru could see the thin line of red blossoming across Jineh’s abdomen.

“Ah, ah, ah, Battousai,” Jineh said, mockingly, “you know that your orders were to take me alive...”

Between one blink and the next, Kenshin was behind him, his blade scraping delicately across Jineh’s throat to leave another line of red.

“ _Alive_ , Jineh? You were dead the minute you started following her. Do you honestly think I in any way _care_ what my orders might have been? The only thing facing you is death, however I chose.” His tone was colder than anything Kaoru could remember, and she took an instinctive step backwards, the noise of her heel hitting the concrete echoing into the silence between the two fighters.

Jineh’s eyes flicked over to her and he laughed again, “Oh, Battousai; your poor little falcon must indeed be something precious to make you so defiant.”

Kenshin smirked as he attacked again, slashing almost casually a millimeter in front of Jineh’s face. “Seems to me like you’ve already had your own encounter with her and learned that, Jineh. I only regret I couldn’t have been there to watch.”

Kaoru was starting to get a twitchy feeling crawling up her spine, her earlier conviction that it would be a very bad thing indeed to attract the grinning psychopath’s attention returning full force.

She also wasn’t comfortable with Kenshin’s wishing he had been there to see what she had done to Jineh with her improvised weapon. She wasn’t even comfortable with the fact that _she_ had been there.

Blades flashed and rang as Kenshin’s next attack was blocked—barely. Then Jineh attacked, his mouth still twisted into that joyous, rictus smile.

He made a move that was slightly off, and, as Kaoru tried to identify what it was that was making her instincts scream at her, Jineh was spinning out of the way a hair too slowly, and Battousai stabbed through his abdomen as quick as thought with a motion that twisted slightly at the end as he withdrew his sword.

 _‘He’s trying to disembowel him...’_ Kaoru thought, _‘But... that shouldn’t have worked so well, Jineh isn’t slow or stupid unless he was.... oh, CRAP...’_

The spin and twist had put Jineh between her and Kenshin, and all she had was half a length of pipe and a half second to leap backwards out of the way as Jineh grabbed, missing her arm but catching the pipe before she had a chance to drop it, and swinging so that she hit one of the machines and fell to her knees, blinking in shock at the red eyes that seemed to fill her field of vision...

The enraged sound that tore from Kenshin’s throat echoed into the sudden stillness.

“Oh, indeed. And I promised her that I would be sure to give her the respect she deserves, Battousai. Of course, I meant for that to be a celebration after I’d taken care of you... but this will do...”

Kaoru wasn’t sure what happened, couldn’t seem to connect her thoughts together, but all at once everything was needles of ice in her veins, and a sharp pressure in her lungs, like being underwater too long, and she watched in astonishment as the quick, shallow pants that suddenly seemed to be all she could manage produced clouds of vapor in front of her, as if she was outside in the winter. 

_‘Huh...’_ she thought, _‘What a strange thing....’_ The expression on Kenshin’s face, in his eyes, was strange too, but she couldn’t take the time to analyze it, not when every breath seemed to be shallower and colder and she couldn’t feel her fingers or feet anymore.

Jineh leapt at Kenshin, who was still staring across the floor at where Kaoru slumped like a broken doll, her eyes glazed and crystals of ice forming at the corners. It was pure instinct that brought his sword up in time to block.

The ring of steel against steel brought him back to himself and he turned burning eyes to Jineh.

“What the hell have you done to Kaoru?” he growled in a voice that barely sounded human anymore.

“Oh, something very... _special_ , for the girl special enough to have caught your attention, Battousai.... and there’s nothing you can do now, but watch her die in front of you. It won’t take more than five minutes, at most, but I’m sure it will seem like much longer to her.”

Jineh’s left hand was on the floor almost before he’d finished his sentence, and Kenshin was leaping at him again with fangs bared and sword flashing.

“You’ll die first,” he swore, biting the words off, “and then I’ll hunt you through the depths of Hell to make sure that it’s not the end of your suffering at my hands.”

Kaoru noticed the spray of blood across the floor in front of her with a numb lack of comprehension. There was blackness spreading across her field of vision, and piercing cold that she couldn’t quite remember the reason for.

It was important that she remember. She knew that it was important.

 _‘Red...’_ she thought, _‘Strange time of night to be painting the floor that color... there was another floor like that... there was one that I painted... it was... it was...’_

Most of Jineh’s coat was covered in spreading stains now, even if blood was no longer pouring from his severed wrist. Kenshin wasn’t even allowing him the pretense of being able to defend himself, leaping up and bringing his sword down to shatter his collarbone and drive the jagged edges through muscles and veins.

Rage coursed through his veins, pulsing white-hot in time with his racing heart. 

He couldn’t lose her like this.

He wouldn’t.

No matter what it took, he would find a way. There was no doubt in his mind that Jineh was lying when he said there was nothing that could be done to break the effects of his spell. It was a tactic to cause Kenshin to despair, and he viewed it with equal parts fury and disdain.

“You’re a fool, Jineh,” Kenshin spat as he neatly slashed up along the side of his head, sending blood and cartilage flying “You’re not even worth this much of my time, and it’s _pathetic_ that you resorted to using someone else to try to increase your own sense of power and importance.”

The flash of his blade in the light as he flicked the blood off of it sounded a chord in Kaoru’s memory as she panted and stared and tried to re-assemble the jigsaw pieces floating around in her mind.

_‘Cleaning the blood off of his sword... he isn’t supposed to have that sword... because I...´_

... Running down the hallway, blood on the floor, and a knife, and fire...

 _’I took his sword’_ she remembered, and felt proud that she knew that much about the man in front of her. She became aware of the numbness clenching her heart as something separate from herself, and concentrated on pushing it back, not caring that it was replaced with prickles of pain, like coming in from outside on an overly cold day when you’d forgotten your gloves.

 _‘Red hair, and amber eyes... but sometimes violet...’_ Kaoru thought, _‘This is important... he smells like ginger and pine trees.... ‘_

The next blow slashed upwards past Jineh’s futile attempt to block it... or would have slashed, except that Kenshin flipped his sword and used it to merely break Jineh’s jaw, to stop the insane, babbling giggle that was still pouring out of the madman’s mouth, in spite of the damage already done to him.

He was running out of time and he knew it. He glanced over to where Kaoru’s fists where tightly clenched, her head bowed as she fought for air. Kenshin had hoped that slowly filleting his opponent would give him time to reconsider, to attempt to bargain by taking the spell off Kaoru, but it appeared that Jineh wasn’t going to say any such thing.

Blurring forwards, Kenshin pulled Jineh forwards by the collar.

“This is your last chance, Jineh,” he hissed. “Release her, and I _might_ consider letting you live.”

His speech garbled by his rapidly-healing jaw, Jineh replied, “I told you, Battousai, there’s nothing that can save her. If you’re so concerned, perhaps you should spend her last minutes with her, instead of with...”

Before he could finish the sentence, Kenshin had sliced through his vocal cords and tossed him against the wall.

“I don’t think that you’re telling me the truth, Jineh,” he said with a deadly calm as he brought up his sword, “Shall we test my theory that inflicting enough pain on you will be enough to break your concentration, that killing you will break the spell outright?”

And he blurred forward again, the last thing Jineh saw as a flash of silver cut across his vision and replaced it with pain and a spray of warm blood against his cheeks.

 _‘There’s a logical reason why I’m here on this floor; I’m sure of it... I’m a very logical person, and so there must be a reason...if I could just figure out what it is. It has to do with that man.....’_ Kaoru thought _‘he came here to rescue me and... eww... that did not look pleasant...’_

Another fragment drifted through her memory, the man with red hair and his sword and a group of figures littering the floor of an auditorium. Gritting her teeth, Kaoru tried to match that image with the scene playing out in front of her, to put a name to his face.

She had a feeling that his name would let the pieces fall back into place, would get rid of this feeling of not being able to breathe around the black hole in her chest.

Kaoru took as deep a breath as she could manage, and focused on the image of the man with red hair. 

_‘I know you...’_

.... standing under a lamppost, giving her a look that was part smile and part smirk...

_‘I know you....’_

...holding out coffee and sandwiches, a peace offering or apology...

_‘I know you...’_

... swift and fierce and frightening in the dark, on the stairs, those same stairs...

_‘I know you...’_

... those same stairs where he had once stood, asking her if she trusted him...

_‘I know you...’_

.. running full-tilt into him in a high school hallway and growling at him to get out of the way, annoyed at his expression,

_‘I know you...’_

... the brush of hands over her arms and abdomen on a dark dance floor, when she hadn’t known him, except that perhaps she had, had recognized those sparks under her skin, that warmth...

_‘I KNOW you...’_

A flood of images: he was carrying boxes and laughing with her friends; stalking his victims in a darkened auditorium; standing over her in a hallway with the light shining into his amber eyes; violet eyes sparkling as he asked her questions related to cleaning and moving; standing in front of her, fierce and protective in the classroom, and she still didn’t know exactly why; the anguish and fury in his voice, under the lamppost, when she’d been snatched away by the laughing madman who was bleeding onto the floor in front of her... the expression in his eyes then, and the expression when she’d been hit with cold and searing pain...

And it all coalesced in the space of a heartbeat, and she _remembered_ , and looked up...

_“KENSHIN!!”_

He spun at the sound of her voice, hope blossoming in his chest, seeing the light sparking once again in those brilliant blue eyes.

“Kaoru? Kaoru!”

She struggled to her feet, and her eyes widened as she saw beyond Kenshin’s shoulder, to where Jineh, blinking newly-healed eyes, was raising his sword in what was clearly a final, desperate charge. Before she could do more than open her mouth to call out a warning, Kenshin had spun around, hand on the hilt of his sword. He blurred forward as he unsheathed it, slashing cleanly as Jineh’s own momentum carried him forward. Then Kenshin pivoted and slashed again, sending his opponent’s head rolling across the floor.

 _‘I think I’m in shock,’_ Kaoru thought dazedly, _‘Because otherwise that would have really, really bothered me...’_

Kenshin was at her side almost before he finished sheathing his sword again, opening his mouth to say something to her as she looked up into amber eyes that were still burning, but with relief, and something that seemed fierce and protective at the same time.

But before he could say whatever it was that he had in mind, Kaoru felt her knees giving out again as blackness swam across her vision until it erased even the last bright spots of red that she saw as he moved forwards to catch her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Chapter: Kaoru deals with the aftermath, Kenshin deals with clean-up, and the author looks up the definition of “fanservice.”
> 
> Author’s Notes: It should probably bother me that I had so much fun writing psycho, creepy smalltalk for Jineh in this chapter... and yet somehow... BWA HA HA! Ahem! At any rate, I hope that the violence level did not bother anybody too much. I upped the rating for this chapter to prepare people. And.. gah.. action scene. Hope that it made sense. I figured that if I was going to give demons and so on in this story freaky healing powers, I should take advantage of it.
> 
> In this chapter I do not own: A deserted factory, although if I had one I would try to turn it into a fetching set of loft apartments rather than using it as an Evil Hide-Out. Well, probably. I also do not own the poem “The Highwayman,” the “Aladdin” movie, “MacGyver,” “The A-Team,” or Occam’s Razor, which is basically the theory that the simplest solution should be looked at first.


	17. Rude Awakening

The first thing she registered as she slowly swam back to consciousness was warmth, a complete contrast to the coldness she vaguely remembered from before darkness had engulfed her.

Now she felt warm and comfortable, and she sighed as she let herself relax into it further.

_‘This is... nice...’_ Kaoru thought to herself. She let herself drift for a few minutes, not wanting to wake up fully and deal with some of the nastier images floating around in the recesses of her mind.

Lazily stringing together her current surroundings, Kaoru registered a steady rhythm that was echoing through her, the way whatever she was resting on shifted slightly, so that she could feel its surface, smooth but firm enough that she wasn’t sinking into it, and the pervasive scent of ginger and something like pine trees.

Everything clicked together suddenly, and Kaoru sat bolt upright.

Well, she would have, except for the fact that there was a pair of very strong arms encircling her, and so she couldn’t move more than a few inches before they tightened and pulled her back down against what she now recognized as Kenshin’s chest.

His very bare chest.

As he re-adjusted his hold on her, he moved to bury his nose in her hair, apparently perfectly content to do nothing else.

“K... Kenshin!” Kaoru said in what was intended to be a low hiss, but which came out somewhat breathless.

“Mmm...?” he inquired, still content with breathing against her hair.

“What... where... how... What are you _doing_?”

“Good morning to you too, kitten,” Kenshin said, a faint chuckle in his voice.

This time, when she went to sit up slightly, he relaxed his arms enough that she could. As she braced herself on her arms, pain shot through them, and, at the expression on her face, Kenshin instantly brought her back down against his chest, then rolled both of them slightly so that she could look up at him without using them.

She looked down and saw that both of her arms had been carefully bandaged, practically up to her elbows. Blinking, she remembered. _‘My wrists were tied... I had to get the rope off, and ended up getting cut...’_

That memory brought back a flood of other images: blood, and pain, and violence, and cold, and Kaoru felt herself start to tremble violently, tears threatening to choke her.

“Shhh... it’s all right, you’re safe,” he murmured, his hands moving comfortingly up and down her back.

She had a moment of panic unrelated to her memories of the previous night at the feel of his calloused palms and fingers against her bare skin, before she realized that she was still wearing the top that Misao had picked out.

“This is obviously some new meaning of the word “safe” of which I was previously unaware,” Kaoru groused, refusing to let herself relax against him again, letting her annoyance help dispel the previous night. Looking around, she confirmed that she was indeed in a bed she didn’t know, with someone she unfortunately did.

“Why am I here?” she demanded.

“Isn’t it a little early in the day for philosophical questions?” Kenshin asked with distinct amusement, his hands continuing their idle motions up and down her back.

“Idiot. You know what I mean.”

He grinned down at her annoyed expression, feeling a wave of relief wash over him. If she was losing her temper with him this early, she was clearly feeling much better.

“I brought you here after you fainted,” Kenshin replied “You had wounds that needed to be taken care of, and...” ‘... _and if you think I was going to let you go after almost losing you, Kaoru, you have got another think coming.’_

She stiffened slightly as something occurred to her “And... Jineh?” While normally seeing someone get decapitated would be a pretty good sign they weren’t going to be a problem again, she’d seen enough of Jineh’s healing abilities—not to mention Kenshin’s—that she felt compelled to ask.

“Also taken care of,” Kenshin said firmly, unconsciously tightening his arms around her. “Don’t worry; I made very, _very_ sure that he wasn’t going to be bothering anybody else, ever again.”

“Ah.” Kaoru wasn’t quite sure what to say to that, except that she was absolutely positive that she didn’t want to know the details. 

She finally settled on, “Well... thank you for the bandages, Kenshin; I’m going to go...”

“No. You’re not. Sorry, kitten, but... you’re not.”

“I... you... you what?” Kaoru managed, not sure she’d heard correctly. He was doing that hair-nuzzling thing again, and it was very... distracting.

“Well, for one thing, you need to eat breakfast,” he said in a suspiciously reasonable tone. “And I need to check and change those bandages for you.”

“Don’t both of those things require you to actually move? As in, let go of me and get out of the bed?”

“True,” he acknowledged. But he still gave no sign of moving from his current position.

“Ken. Shin.” Kaoru half-growled, “I really would like to get out of the bed and get on with my day so that I can go home. My hair is a mess and I didn’t even get a chance to remove my make-up last night. Not to mention... that place wasn’t very... I’m sure nobody had cleaned the floor since it...”

She was still trying to find a way to explain, tactfully, although she had no idea why she felt the need to be _tactful_ , that she felt filthy and probably smelled bad, and that if she didn’t get a chance to shower soon to get rid of the dirt she could practically feel crawling all over her, she was going to start pitching a screaming fit and throwing things.

Fortunately for her, Kenshin, whose arms had tightened again when she had started talking about the factory, let out a long sighing breath that brushed the hairs along the back of her neck and replied, “Ok. You shower and I’ll fix breakfast, and then I’ll change your bandages before we eat.” 

With that, he released her, but kept his arms close to help her if she gave any sign of needing it. Then he got out of bed himself, walking around her and allowing his hands to rest briefly on her shoulders as he passed behind her. 

“The bathroom’s this way. Hang on; I’ll find you something to wear.” He had thought about getting some of her own clothes after he’d brought her pale form home the previous night, but had decided against it on the grounds that a) he kind of liked the idea of some of his clothing smelling like Kaoru afterwards, b) there was no way that he was going to leave Kaoru alone for even a moment and he didn’t think it was a good idea to drag her from apartment to apartment, and c) Kaoru would attack him with anything she could get her hands on if she thought he’d been wandering around in her apartment. Rummaging through his things, he came up with a pair of black sweatpants, cotton boxers, and a comfortable flannel shirt. “Here; will these work?”

Kaoru, who was currently occupied in trying not to focus on the fact that Kenshin was wearing black silk boxers, and only black silk boxers, blinked and said, “Um. Er. Yes. Thank you. Those will be fine and where’s the shower?”

Kenshin shifted the clothes to his left arm and came over to Kaoru, putting his other arm carefully around her waist, once again not close enough to touch, but enough to direct her over towards one of the doors leading off of the bedroom.

The not-quite-contact brought back a flood of memories from the previous night that had her turning red and trying to get away from him by stepping forward. Which turned out to be a completely wasted effort on her part, because the only result was that Kenshin moved so that his hand _was_ actually resting on the curve of her waist, and was suddenly so close that he was slightly pressing up against her back, and she could feel the warmth of his breath as he spoke in a low voice.

“Be careful, kitten. Don’t push yourself; you had a rough night last night, and you need to be taken care of.”

“I can take care of _myself_ ,” Kaoru retorted, “I’m just _fine_...” then squeaked slightly as Kenshin’s other arm came to circle her waist, hand spreading out across her ribs to just under the bottom of her top, as he pulled her close, burying his face against her hair, his slightly unsteady breathing ghosting across her neck.

_’He’s not supposed to be doing this anymore...’_ swam through Kaoru’s slightly dazed brain. Before she could recover enough to either elbow him sharply or make a pointed remark, Kenshin had taken a deep breath and a step backwards, and was suddenly at her side to open the door to the bathroom.

Kaoru blinked. She hadn’t known that any of the apartments in her complex—which was not by any stretch of the imagination luxurious—had bathrooms that were this nice. There was a very large tub, with what looked like whirlpool jets, and a shower that looked like it would have really good water pressure. 

She was admiring the decorating scheme and wondering idly if it had been this way when Kenshin had moved in or if interior decorating was one of his demonic skills when she was pulled from her train of thought by Kenshin handing her a very large, very fluffy towel with several bottles on top of it.

“Here; soap, shampoo, conditioner. And towel. Take your time; feel free to take a bath if you’d prefer. I’m going to be out in the kitchen fixing breakfast. Holler if you need anything.” With that, he turned and left her in the bathroom, carefully closing the door.

Kenshin was being brusque, and he knew it. However, frankly, it was either brusqueness or him being in the shower with her and making personally sure that every hint of the previous night’s trauma was thoroughly washed away. And, as tempting as that thought was, he knew that it wasn’t a good idea. Yet.

Once he’d left the room, Kaoru blinked down at the towel in her hand. 

She could just tell that this was going to be a very... strange day. Much stranger than the normal degree of strange that she tended to encounter.

Kaoru looked at the bathtub with consideration, and no small degree of longing, but decided that she should really just take a quick shower. She wanted to get home as soon as she could; she had a lot to do. First on her agenda was taking a long time, _on her own_ , to think about the previous night’s events and what they meant.

_‘Kenshin has his sword back. And he rescued me anyway. In a spectacularly violent fashion, which did nothing to reassure me about how dangerous he is. Except that he could have left me to a really, really nasty fate, and he didn’t.... and he was furious with Jineh for taking me. Really, violently, bloodily, mercilessly, extremely....’_ Realizing that she was getting caught up in memories and speculation, Kaoru whapped herself lightly on the side of the head. In her book, “first on the agenda” meant “after coffee, and a shower,” with the possible addition of time to perform katas or relax in some other way to get her mind in better working order. Otherwise she was prone to thinking in circles, or wandering off in random mental directions; sometimes both.

Considering everything that she had to think about today, she was fairly certain she would need every weapon in her arsenal (so to speak) to get her brain ready to work through it all.

She carefully unwrapped the bandages from her arms, hissing through her teeth as they stuck slightly. There were several long, nasty-looking scratches and a host of smaller abrasions from her encounter with the splintery wood of the windowsill at the factory, although any actual splinters seemed to have been carefully removed. On the whole, however, she was glad that she hadn’t injured herself more.

Or been injured more.

One of her wrists also had a bruised-looking marking on it that she couldn’t quite place, until memories of the earlier part of last night’s activities, with Kenshin holding her wrist lightly as he brought his mouth down to her pulse, made her blush violently and automatically rub her wrist against the towel as if she could erase the mark. 

_‘Damn it.... this is not... I don’t need.... This is why I left the club. And promptly got kidnapped. And what would have happened if Kenshin hadn’t been being his usual annoying stalk-y self and I had been out on that street on my own? Well, actually, since the whole point was to grab me when Kenshin was there, I probably would only have had to worry about your normal muggers and rapists and drunks and... .SHOWER, Kaoru, stop admiring the faucets and thinking about street criminals...’_

Disposing of the bandages and putting the clothes Kenshin had given her on a convenient shelf, Kaoru finally got out of her club outfit from the previous night, tossing it into a corner of the room with a glare as if she could somehow blame it for much of her current confusion.

Actually, considering the way that those pants fit, and how much the top... wasn’t much.... blaming the clothes wasn’t such a bad idea...

_‘Mmm... this is indeed really good water pressure...’_ Kaoru thought as she finally let herself relax in the warmth of the shower. She looked at the bottles Kenshin had given her and frowned slightly.

_‘I have to get clean. I mean, I really have to get clean, really right now. On the other hand, I really, really don’t want to end up smelling like Kenshin. Not that Kenshin smells bad... in fact, he really... I mean, he’s got... ‘_

This time, she lightly whapped her head against the wall of the shower, then stood there leaned against the wall, counting to forty-two and then back down again.

_‘Being clean is the important thing. You can always just rinse extremely thoroughly. More than once.’_

Fortunately, when she opened the bottles, the scent that greeted her was neither ginger nor anything pine-y, but was a familiar, subtle floral.

_‘Oh, good, this is almost... exactly... like... mine... Oh. Oh, no, no, no; I really don’t want another thing on my Agenda of Things I Don’t Want To Think About But Have To Anyway...’_

Reminding herself once again that being clean was what was important, and that at least she’d smell like her normal self rather than.... somebody else.... Kaoru proceeded to wash her hair, twice, to get rid of the stripes Misao had put in, and then washed until she was sure that any trace of club smoke or factory dirt or anything else that she might have come into contact with the previous night was washed away.

After throwing on a pair of pants, Kenshin had decided to work on breakfast. He was half-listening to the shower and half mixing batter for pancakes. Or possibly waffles; he hadn’t decided yet. Either way, it wasn’t escaping his notice that he was mixing with a great deal more vigor than usual.

While it was true that Jineh had paid for what he had done, what he had _tried_ to do to Kaoru, with enough interest to satisfy even Kenshin, that didn’t mean that Kenshin was currently at peace about it.

When he had called Yahiko after bringing Kaoru back to his apartment, the boy had been both grateful and worried, even after Kenshin had reassured him that his sister was only slightly scratched and that he had already taken care of bandaging her arms. 

Somehow, Kenshin hadn’t been able to bring himself to tell Yahiko that Kaoru had come horribly close to dying.

Because of _him._

Jineh had taken her because of him; Jineh had sought to use and hurt Kaoru to get to him; Jineh had taken advantage of a momentary lapse on Kenshin’s part to bespell Kaoru and had almost killed her. 

_‘I knew that she was in danger, but I missed Jineh’s true purpose in letting himself get wounded until it was too late.... I will not allow something like that to happen again. None of it.’_

Letting the batter rest for a while, Kenshin started more coffee and went to call Aoshi.

“I need you to set up some protection for Kaoru,” Kenshin said without preamble. “Today, as soon as you can get over here. Her car, her apartment. As unobtrusively as you can, but it needs to be thorough. I’m already working on finding something for her personal protection, but it will take a couple of days.... Have I thought about calling _who_?” There was a long silence while Kenshin thought about what Aoshi had said. “What? No, I’m still here... that’s... well, you know how I feel about talking to that... that....” he trailed off before concluding in a firm tone, “You’re right. It’s a good idea, for during the week. I’ll get in touch with him about it. Let me know when you’re done here. Thanks, Aoshi.”

After he had hung up the phone, he went and set the table. It was more of an attempt at distracting himself, and he knew it. On the other hand, it was also something that needed to be done, so he didn’t really mind.

When Kaoru came out into the kitchen, hair damp and curling down her back, wearing his pants fastened tightly around her slender waist, the sleeves of his shirt flopping over her hands even after she’d folded the cuffs back, several other possible distractions sprang immediately to Kenshin’s mind, but he kept his expression carefully schooled to that of a good host and merely said, “Pancakes or waffles?”

She blinked and bit her lip thoughtfully in a way that really did nothing to help his efforts to remain calm and casual. “Um... waffles, I think. If it’s not a problem.”

Kenshin shook his head and poured them both a cup of coffee before he got out the waffle iron.

_‘This is... disturbingly domestic,’_ Kaoru thought to herself. _‘Good thing he’s not wearing an apron, because then I...well, it would involve hysterical laughter and possibly being very freaked out at the same time...’_

Once he had gotten everything set up so that the waffles would cook quite happily on their own, Kenshin picked the first aid kit up from off the counter and brought it over to where Kaoru was happily communing with her coffee.

“Give me your arm; I’m going to put new bandages on.” Kenshin said.

“Oh, that’s ok; I bandaged them back up before I got... Hey!” Kaoru said indignantly as Kenshin ignored her statement and pulled her arm forward. His grip was gentle, but when she tried to pull her hand back, she couldn’t move it.

“They’re fine! I’m a big girl, and I can apply bandages and everything... Kenshin!”

He continued to ignore her, and unwrapped the bandages she had put on once she was out of the shower. His expression when he saw the scratches was indecipherable, but she thought his jaw tightened momentarily before he reached for a container of salve that didn’t have a brand name on it that she could recognize.

“This might sting a little... I’m sorry...” Kenshin said as he applied the salve with gentle sweeps of his fingers, still holding her wrist gently with his other hand. She muttered something under her breath that might have been directed at the salve or at him; it wasn’t entirely clear. He wrapped the bandages carefully, as if she was something entirely fragile, and then switched to her other arm.

When he saw the bruise on her inner wrist, he blinked momentarily, and then Kaoru felt his hand momentarily tighten and saw bright flashes of amber in his eyes as he too remembered where that particular mark had come from. 

He ran his thumb over it, slowly, and Kaoru felt the breath hitch in her throat for a moment.

“Um... Kenshin?” she ventured when he gave no sign of moving.

The sound of her voice seemed to snap him out of whatever he’d been thinking, and he immediately moved to pick up the salve again, making no comment on his momentary distraction.

Not wanting to open _that_ particular can of worms, Kaoru didn’t say anything either. She also didn’t say anything about the way that his hands had gotten more... more... _caressing_ as he ran them up and down her forearm, then carefully smoothed the bandages around her arm.

“How’s that?” Kenshin said.

“Um... good; it’s... thank you,” Kaoru replied, a faint nervous prickling making the hairs on the back of her neck stand up.

“Good,” Kenshin said, and that was all the warning she had before she suddenly found herself in his lap, being kissed with something that was akin to desperation. His arms were wrapped around her waist, one hand splayed against her back underneath the shirt she had borrowed from him. She could feel the roughness of his palm, warm against her skin, pulling her as close as he could as she straddled his waist where he sat in the chair.

Kenshin could feel Kaoru’s heart racing in time with his, a sure and welcome sign that she was alive; alive and warm and here with him, pressing herself against him in ways that made all his resolutions about letting her rest, about taking it slowly, about doing anything other than never letting her go, ever again, crumble into dust and fall away.

He needed to taste her, to hear the faint gasps that she made when his tongue slipped past her lips, to run his hands over the smoothness of her skin, following the same path they had taken the night before in the club, but this time, actually touching her. At the same time, he was unwilling to let her get far enough away from his body to let his hands have free reign, and so he compromised by caressing her side with the hand that had been spread across her back while his other arm wrapped around her tightly. Kenshin could feel the press of her breasts up against his chest, the thin fabric of her borrowed shirt the only thing separating his skin from hers, and he felt a growl rumble through his throat, a sound that elicited a faint noise from Kaoru that had him pulling her closer, deepening their kiss.

Kaoru could taste the coffee that Kenshin had been drinking before he’d started bandaging her wrists, superimposed over the ginger that she usually associated with him. She wanted to memorize his taste, to decipher the wilder elements in it that she still couldn’t quite define. She wrapped her arms around his neck, burying her hands in the length of his hair, pressing her chest against his and feeling how the contact, even through the fabric between them, sent unfamiliar sparks shivering through her veins. When Kenshin pulled back slightly to let her breathe, she found herself sprinkling kisses along his jawline, seeking out the taste of his skin without even thinking about it. He inhaled sharply and said something that might have been her name, then claimed her mouth again, fiercely, his arms wrapping around her tightly and pulling her against him. The heat of his body made her moan in turn, and she found herself arching closer, moving her hips forward into his lap, wanting to get as close as she possibly could, wanting...

The sudden, loud ringing of the waffle iron and the smell of waffles that were just about to become burned snapped Kenshin forcefully back to reality. 

_‘Damn it..’_ he swore, looking at Kaoru’s wide eyes, the way that her lips were kiss-swollen and still slightly parted, registering the way her hands were clutching his shoulders, feeling the sparks pooling in the base of his spine from the way she had pressed herself up against him.

He was trying very, very hard to remember his reasons for not dragging her off to the bedroom right away...or possibly just sweeping the breakfast dishes off of the kitchen table....

_‘Control. Control, dammit.... she’s been through a lot, she’s probably in shock, she’s in no condition to make this sort of decision... gods, she feels... good...’_

“We should eat...” he finally managed, in a voice that didn’t quite sound like his own. “You need to make sure that you have a good breakfast...”

Kaoru blinked at him, trying to connect his words to reality, trying to connect reality to something other than the feel of Kenshin’s arms around her, his body pressing against her, her need to feel his lips on hers again...

Then, as he gently started to remove his arms, the entirety of her—of _their_ —situation crashed down on her, and she almost fell flat onto the floor in her hurry to scramble backwards, off of his lap, away from him. When Kenshin reached a hand out to try to steady her, she slapped at it, and he didn’t try again. In fact, he let her compose herself while he went to take care of the waffles.

Trying to get her breathing back under control, Kaoru stared at the floor, willing her heartrate to slow back down, the strange sparking feeling under her skin to go away.

_‘He... he... I... Hey! He’s not supposed to be doing that anymore!’_ she thought with a flush of righteous indignation that part of her knew was more than a little ridiculous, all things considered. Still, it was something that she could latch onto, something to take her mind off of the way that she was feeling.

“You’re not supposed to be doing that anymore!” she blurted out without thinking, her tone faintly accusing.

Kenshin, who had gotten the waffles out and divided between two plates, turned to her with one eyebrow raised and said, “Um... excuse me?”

“You... you have your sword back!” Kaoru explained “Um... how did you get your sword back? It was... I mean... I... um... it...”

“Was under your bed,” Kenshin said, when Kaoru seemed unwilling or unable to complete her thought.

“Yes! In my room! And... hey! What were you doing in... I mean, getting your sword, but... how did you get into the house?”

Kenshin put the plates of waffles down on the table and shrugged as he went to get the syrup. “I asked your brother. He was very worried about you, by the way, even after I called him last night to let him know that you were ok.”

The various bits and pieces of information Kaoru was trying to put together were refusing to play nicely with each other. 

_‘Kenshin has his sword back. He went to my house and talked to my brother... but since he called afterwards, he apparently didn’t kill Yahiko.... Kenshin has his sword back, so what does he still need me for, and why is he making me waffles, like this was some sort of perfectly normal, waffles and syrup and coffee and a white picket fence kind of Saturday morning?’_

“Kaoru? Breakfast is ready.” With that, Kenshin sat down and started pouring syrup over his own waffles, deliberately focusing on the plate, the waffles, the table, trying very hard to act as if the situation was entirely normal. 

_‘If I just act as if everything’s normal, hopefully Kaoru will automatically do the same thing.... people usually do...’_

Staring at him as if he had just sprouted a second head, Kaoru repeated, “You have your sword back... Why are you eating waffles?”

“I’m eating waffles because you asked for waffles, and because it’s breakfast time and I’m hungry.” Kenshin hesitated, considering whether to say anything else before he added, “It was a very... after last night, we both need to make sure that we eat, so sit down.”

“I’m not hungry.”

“Yes, you are.”

“No, I’m really not,” she snapped, backing away from the table and crossing her arms as she glared at him.

Between one glare and the next, Kaoru suddenly found herself sitting in the other chair, Kenshin’s hands warm on her shoulders as he murmured, “Don’t make me tie you up and feed you myself, kitten. You need to eat breakfast. Unless you want to faint and wake up in my bed again....”

Kaoru closed her mouth on whatever she was going to say next and mutinously dug into the plate of waffles in front of her. The fact that they were absolutely delicious did nothing to help her mood.

Well, actually, the fact that they were absolutely delicious did a great deal to help her mood, but then the fact that demonic waffles were making her feel better got her annoyed all over again, at herself, Kenshin, and the waffles, which she supposed really couldn’t be blamed.

As she chewed, she tried to come up with a strategy. 

_‘Kenshin has his sword back, and clearly isn’t afraid to use it. Ignoring the fact that he still seems to enjoy... that he still seems to want.... well, anyway, ignoring means not thinking about his mouth and his hands and.. and... any of it, so, moving on to the OTHER problem... now that he has his sword back, there’s nothing stopping him from another massacre. Unless I can stab him to death with this fork.... except that that would clearly only be a short-term solution... unless I can use that time to find something else to chop his head off with, like his sword, which I’m willing to bet is NOT hidden under his bed...’_

By the time she’d finished breakfast, Kaoru had run through several different strategies, mostly violent, in her mind, and had yet to find one that had any chance of success. For one thing, she didn’t even think she could lift the table in the first place, not to mention the fact that casually inquiring where Kenshin kept the steak knives seemed to lack a certain subtlety.

And any vague thoughts of trying to seduce the answer out of him were immediately and vigorously stomped on before they could do more than drift across her mind and annoy her.

Kenshin watched her surreptitiously as she stabbed at the waffles with her fork, her expression dark. He had a sneaking certainty that she was imagining him in place of the waffles she was now dismembering, and it made him hide a grin as he sipped his coffee. 

_‘She’s here, and she’s safe,’_ he thought with relief, a touch of the furious panic from the previous night snaking up his spine. _‘Probably mad as hell, but safe...’_

He could deal with the first, as long as he was assured of the second.

Kaoru finished her waffles, and went to go put her dishes in the sink. Preferably with enough force to crack them. However, Kenshin was on his feet as quick as thinking, gathering up her plates and mug and silverware along with his own, depositing them in the sink, and turning back to face her.

“Well,” he said calmly, “What would you like to do today?”

She blinked at him, mouth gaping, “I... you... I’m going _home_ now, you idiot. Thank you for breakfast. And the bandages. Have a good day.”

Spinning on her heel, Kaoru stalked out of the kitchen... and almost ran smack into Kenshin again, who had somehow managed to maneuver himself around her. Again. Fortunately, she managed to stop herself from plowing into him, and deftly avoided the hands he reached out to steady her.

“No,” Kenshin said, repeating his earlier comments, “You’re not. It... it’s not safe yet.”

“It’s not _safe_?” Kaoru asked, incredulous, “What the hell do you mean, it’s not safe? You said that Jineh was dead—really, most sincerely dead!—didn’t you?”

“Yes,” Kenshin acknowledged with a nod of his head, “He is. I promise. But...” His jaw tightened and his eyes were definitely tinged with amber as he continued, “I refuse to allow the possibility of something like that happening again.”

Kaoru closed her eyes, took a deep, calming breath, and said in a tone that would have had any of her friends scrambling for cover, “What, _exactly_ , makes you think that something like that could happen again? Do I suddenly have some sort of target sign hanging over my head, _Battousai_? Is there any particular _reason_ why random demonic lunatics are going to look at me and decide I’m worth grabbing?” Her eyes were sparking at him as she continued, “If this is because of that maniac saying that I’m ... if this is because of what Jineh said... oh, I’m going to bludgeon you to death with a set of encyclopedias, you... you... stuck-up, arrogant, unbearable, high-handed...” She trailed off, glaring at him.

Kenshin met her eyes squarely, his gaze direct. “I don’t think that something like that could happen again,” _‘and if I had even a hint that it might, I would make sure that the problem was eliminated before it could even get close to her...’_ “But I’m taking some precautions to make absolutely sure, and until they’re completed, you’re staying here where I can keep an eye on you. And I really don’t care what I have to do to make sure of that.”

His tone was completely calm, and brooked no argument. Kaoru glared at him, aware of the fact that her hands were clenching into fists, that she was practically grinding her teeth.

“I don’t think that something like that could happen again, ever,” Kenshin repeated, “and the precautions I have in mind aren’t even things you’ll notice; they won’t interfere with your life. They’ll be in place by tonight.”

“You’re just doing this to make yourself feel better about what happened,” Kaoru accused harshly, “It doesn’t have anything to do with me, not really.”

He hissed slightly, and Kaoru’s eyes widened at his expression, the blazing gold of his eyes. Her half-step backwards was interrupted as his hands grasped her arms and pushed her up against the doorframe, his chest pressing up against hers as he leaned in, his breath hot against her neck and in her ear, his voice a growling whisper.

“Yes, it does, Kaoru; don’t ever say, don’t even _think_ that it isn’t about you.” She could feel the racing of his heart, the way that his warm hands clasped around her upper arms, the slight raggedness of his breath against her neck, the way that his lips were barely touching her skin.

Kaoru was frozen in place, holding perfectly still. She was barely daring to breathe, because breathing brought her chest into firmer contact with Kenshin’s, letting her feel the way that his heart was pounding. 

Her thoughts were swimming dizzily, impossible to organize. _‘He’s not supposed to... why on earth does he... I mean, my neck, and... this makes no... and... should just kick him, really I should, and...‘_

“L-let go, Kenshin,” she finally managed, hating the way that her voice sounded breathy and hesitant, focusing on her own annoyance to distract herself from the confusion she was feeling.

Kenshin took several deep breaths against her, the way he exhaled making the fine hairs on the back of her neck stand up. Then, very carefully, he let go and backed up, bringing one hand up under Kaoru’s chin to raise her face so that she was forced to meet his amber gaze.

“Don’t even think it isn’t about you,” he repeated. “I refuse to allow someone like Jineh to hurt you again.”

Kaoru blinked. 

_‘He refuses... Ok, see, that makes it about him again,’_ she thought distractedly as Kenshin guided her into the living room with one hand curled around her elbow.

“Now, kitten,” Kenshin said in a voice that was much closer to his normal tones, his eyes once again that blue violet color, “Try to decide if there’s anything in particular you want for lunch, and feel free to watch TV. I’m going to wash the dishes from breakfast and get the kitchen cleaned up.” With that, he vanished back into the kitchen, leaving Kaoru with her mouth hanging slightly open as she stared from him to the couch to the large television set in one corner of the room.

_‘Damn it... I’ve been kidnapped by a demon!’_ she realized, ‘ _Again! Although this is much nicer than a factory and the threat of being chopped up into mincemeat... I think... probably... Well, since I’m here, I should make some attempt at finding where he might have hidden that sword, so I can steal it back.... And then leave town for a couple of years... good thing I have a car now... ‘_

Turning on the TV and turning up the volume to cover her movements, Kaoru snuck a glance at the kitchen. She could hear the sound of running water, and there was no sign of Kenshin, so she assumed he was in fact washing the dishes.

_‘He really is quite bafflingly domestic,’_ Kaoru thought as she ran her hands under the couch. _‘No sword here... not even a dustbunny... Bookshelves? Not back here... hey, wow, I didn’t know this was out yet....Focus! Leave the shiny new books alone and concentrate on finding nasty edged weapons...’_

There were also no signs of a sword or any kind of sword-sized hiding place in the rest of the living room or the bathroom. Not that she was expecting, say, a sword wrapped in plastic to be stuck in the toilet tank, but Kaoru figured that it was better to be thorough.

After all, you wouldn’t expect to find a sword wrapped in paper and stuck under a teenaged-girl’s bed, either.

Unsurprised, but disgruntled in spite of it, Kaoru flopped back down onto the soft leather of the couch. It was very comfortable. She glared at the couch itself, just on general principle and turned the TV down to a reasonable volume.

When Kenshin came back out from the kitchen, Kaoru was curled up on the couch, the TV remote falling from limp fingers. Her hair was falling loosely around her face and neck, and he resisted the temptation to brush it back.

_‘Good, she needs her sleep... hopefully it will help her get over the stress of last night...Besides which, sleeping means that she isn’t fighting me about staying here, and that’s also good...’_ Kenshin thought, equal parts worry and practicality.

He wondered briefly if he should carry her back into the bedroom, but decided against it, at least until after he’d had a chance to shower. Once she was back in his bed, he doubted he would be able to resist curling up around her, just to breathe in her scent and know that she was safe, and that was something he would prefer to wait to do until he was clean. He settled for placing a blanket carefully over her, and then headed towards the bathroom.

The minute she heard the water starting, Kaoru cautiously cracked one eye open. 

_‘Good... I knew he’d probably want to shower after he’d cleaned the kitchen... cleaning seems to be his thing, doesn’t it... except for those occasions when he’s getting things all... messy again... Not the time to think about that; time to get out of this stupid apartment!’_

Sneaking as carefully as she could, Kaoru took one of the kitchen chairs and propped it under the handle of the bathroom door. The water kept running, and she was fairly certain she could hear... singing? She raised an eyebrow. Realizing that she was leaning forwards and trying to catch the lyrics, she rolled her eyes and scowled at herself, then snuck back out into the living room. She put her boots on, her eyes scanning the room.

_‘Door... door... door...’_ Kaoru thought, looking for a way out. _‘With my luck, I’ll do something ‘Four Weddings and a Funeral’-esque and trap myself in the closet.’_

Fortunately, the door out of the apartment was easily identifiable. Unfortunately, it was also clearly very locked. 

Biting her lip, Kaoru considered her options. A glance out the window had revealed that they were up too high for her to climb out the window and figure out a way down, unless she could find a very long rope.

_‘Now... if I were a spare key, where would I be... outside, would be under a flowerpot or one of those fake rocks... inside, though... guess I need to find that closet after all..’_

There was a rack of keys on the inside of the door, and Kaoru quickly found the two that seemed most likely to be for the front door.

The second key worked, turning with very little noise. The minute the door started to open, Kaoru heard a voice calling her name from the direction of the bathroom, and she fled into the hallway and towards the staircase, slamming the door behind her.

Kenshin was out of the shower the minute he felt the door being opened, the wards on the apartment sparking as they were breached. The fact that they were being breached from the inside did nothing to make him feel better. He yelled Kaoru’s name, and swore when the only response was the door closing again, violently. 

Going to open the door out of the bathroom, Kenshin was brought up short by the fact that something was blocking it. He blinked and tried again, but it was still definitely not opening.

Snarling, Kenshin rammed his shoulder against the door, shattering both it and the chair on the other side. He was in the living room between one heartbeat and the next, but could only confirm that Kaoru was no longer on his couch. In fact, she was nowhere to be seen at all. The only hint as to where she had gone was the fact that his door, which before had definitely been locked, was now undone and had bounced slightly open.

Kenshin was half a second from chasing her out into the hallway, knowing that she couldn’t have gotten far, when he realized that dashing out into the hallway and down the stairs while wearing nothing but soapsuds was probably not the best idea.

His eyes were dark and furious as he pulled on his clothes with brisk efficiency.

He didn’t know what the hell Kaoru thought she was doing, running away from him when he’d _told_ her that she needed to stay there with him, to stay safe until he could make sure she was properly protected. The coil of worry deep in his gut that something might happen to her twisted, and he knew that his expression was fierce as he headed out into the hallway. 

Kenshin followed her trail to the stairs, then down into the lobby. He was surprised; he had expected that she would head home to her apartment. Instead, she had headed out of the building, and he could see from the tire tracks she’d left that she had been driving out of the parking lot as fast as she could.

His smile was grim and fanged as he followed the trail with his eyes.

So... Kaoru wanted to turn this into another hunt, did she?

That was fine.

He always did enjoy it when they tried to run.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Chapter: Misao divides her time between remembering, planning, and shopping. With occasional coffee.
> 
> In this chapter I don’t own: “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy,” in any of it’s various incarnations, “The Wizard of Oz,” or “Four Weddings and a Funeral.”


	18. Laying Plans

Misao was humming to herself, slightly off-key, as she fixed herself breakfast, ignoring the baleful stares she was getting from her dog.

Last night had been... it had been...

Well, the fact that her brain wasn’t provided the usual flood of words to describe it was really all that needed to be said.

Her memory of the way that he had looked, leaning against the club wall and staring out across the bar area, was enough to make her sigh and almost pour orange juice all over the kitchen table. While it was true that Misao had chattered non-stop to Kaoru about going out so that they could drink and dance and, well, “frolic,” as she had jokingly put it, she hadn’t actually expected to find anybody that she wanted to spend time with for more than a couple of dances, a few drinks, and possibly meeting up the following weekend for more of the same.

Misao wasn’t even looking for casual, and she sure hadn’t expected to find.....well, more than casual. At least she hoped it was more than casual. 

Rolling her eyes at Angel Marie’s put-upon pout, Misao said, “I’ve already fed you, you over-sized throw rug. Quit complaining.” She paused to add some grated Cheddar to the scrambled eggs, then boogied across the floor to where her plates and silverware were kept, happily caught up in her memories.

_Kaoru had been being... well, her usual self, even in the outfit Misao had so carefully picked out._

_‘Honestly, that girl is never going to get herself a man! I mean, in high school, she did nothing but work. And then in college, she did nothing but work. It’s high time that girl got some... hey! Ok, guy checking out Kaoru, this is good; granted, he looks about as interesting as a wet sponge, but, she’s gotta start somewhere...’_

_“Go over there!”_ _she had hissed, glaring emphatically yet encouragingly at her friend, “See, this is your problem; you come to these places and then you never make a move, and if you don’t get in there and make a move,” she continued, her eyes moving past the innocuous-looking blond staring nervously at Kaoru, only paying vague attention to the other assorted men lurking along the club walls._

_‘Maybe Sponge-boy will at least be good for a couple of dances; getting Kaoru out on the dance floor so that she’s not hiding up here with all of us would be...’_

_Misao’s eyes suddenly registered a tall figure in a white coat, leaning against the wall with perfect, casual stillness._

_“you’re never going...”_

_Black hair. Strong, determined jaw. Eyes that were the color of pale seas in winter, that seemed to be looking at the other people in the club with an indifference so complete that it bordered on disdain..._

_“... to... find....” Misao felt her voice trail off as her throat went dry._

_‘Wow...’ was the only word that her brain could seem to come up with. It was too busy trying to deal with the sudden sensation of everything tilting and ringing like a bell and narrowing to a single point of focus across the crowded room._

Misao grinned happily at her breakfast. She had never really thought that all the clichés from songs and poems had an actual basis in reality; seeing him had proved her wrong. 

She wasn’t even sure what she had said to her friends before she had abandoned them, making a beeline over to the man in the white coat.

Fortunately, Misao had never had a problem with shyness or hesitation when dealing with other people.

_Even when she had gotten up close to the man, he hadn’t shown any real sign of noticing her presence._

_Taking a deep breath, Misao had put on her most cheerful-yet-sane grin, and started, “Hi! I’m Misao! I noticed that you were standing over here, and I thought I would come over and ask you to dance, because, frankly, you look kind of lonely and well, I can’t have that sort of thing going on, especially not here, because I helped design this club and, well, if people aren’t having a good time, I always feel kind of guilty about it, you know?’_

_About halfway through her monologue, the man had blinked and looked at her. The shock of direct eye contact had almost derailed her speech. Almost, but not quite..._

_Taking advantage of a passing waiter, Misao made it look as if she was about to be bombarded with mixed drinks and fruit garnishes, and, by a set of complicated maneuvers, managed to end up practically pressed up against her chosen target, close enough to feel something like faint sparks through her palms where they were almost but not quite touching him._

_Looking up at him through her eyelashes, Misao “So... what’s your name, or should I just drag you to the dance floor?”_

_Something like humor, or surprise, flickered briefly through ice blue eyes, but it was gone before Misao could identify it exactly. Grinning up at him, Misao reached out and grabbed his arm, latching her own around him and pulling._

_He looked down at her as he disengaged himself from the wall. She was startled by how tall he was, the way that he towered over her own petite form. She led him down the side staircase, the one that she’d designed as a quicker, less obvious way down to the back half of the dance floor, the less crowded part._

_“You do know how to dance, right?” she had asked, as she took his hand and began to move to the beat._

_“Yes,” he’d said, his voice deep and rich, a tone she could practically wrap herself up in._

Misao closed her eyes in remembrance of that first dance. He had been... the way that he had moved... she’d never met anybody who seemed to know where she was going to move before she herself knew. There had been a kind of perfect synchronicity to their dance, and, as the song had shifted, she had looked up at him with wide, slightly dazed eyes and said, in a slightly breathless tone that she’d never heard from herself before...

_“You know... it’s not fair to dance with a lady like that and not tell her your name...”_

_Again that faint ghost of a smile went through his eyes as he said, “Aoshi. Aoshi Shinomori.”_

_“Misao Makimachi. It’s... it’s very nice to meet you.... Aoshi.”_

And, feeling greatly daring, she’d stood on tiptoe and planted her lips on his, wrapping her arms around his neck to support herself. 

Misao had long ago decided that trying to be shy and demure was a wasted effort that annoyed both herself and those around her. However, she had felt a frisson of nervousness down her spine as she kissed a man who was practically a total stranger, the same nervousness that she had been feeling since she’d made eye contact with him, since she’d even seen him.

There had been a moment when he had stood in utterly shocked stillness, and Misao had had the horrible feeling that she had done something completely wrong, a kind of sinking sensation deep in the pit of her stomach as she wondered if she’d ruined possibilities she was only starting to see....

Then Aoshi’s arms had suddenly been around her, and he’d been pulling her so tightly against her that she almost couldn’t breath, and he had angled his mouth against hers so that she could taste him, green tea and an undertone like dark chocolate, utterly addictive, and the rest of the world had faded away to nothing, so that there was only the sound of his heartbeat echoing through her and the press of his body against hers. 

After a long time, or maybe only a few minutes, he had pulled away from her, sparks in his eyes like fire on snow, and he had smiled as he looked down at her flushed expression, the way that her eyes were wide and her lips slightly parted as she breathed.

_“It’s very nice to meet you too... Misao...”_

As she had introduced him to her friends, she had been suffused with a feeling like pink champagne, sweet and fizzy and intoxicating from her head to her toes. Aoshi himself had gone back to what she was starting to realize was his default expression, a kind of arctic stoicism that made her want to drag him back to a dark corner of the dance floor and see what she could do to remove it.

She blamed that feeling for the fact that it took her so long to recognize Kenshin as the boy from their high school Kaoru had most definitely been interested in, in spite of her protests. 

Washing the last of the dishes, Misao grinned to herself. Kaoru and Battousai.... and _she_ still had setting-up privileges, no matter what Kaoru might say to try to throw her off.

This was going to be perfect, as soon as she could figure out where he lived and convince him to take the Raccoon out on a date. Actually, considering the way he’d been looking at Kaoru, it might not be that hard to persuade him. She just needed to make sure that she and Megumi planned Kaoru’s wardrobe for the evening. And picked the restaurant, just to be safe.

The fact that Kaoru had taken off, clearly intending to use their long-established escape route, hadn’t bothered her in the least. Especially since she had realized by then that Aoshi and Kenshin knew each other. That meant that she didn’t have to necessarily set her plans in motion right away; she could take a little bit of time.

That turned out to be a good thing, since Kenshin politely excused himself and headed to get his jacket shortly after finding out that Kaoru had gone out the window.

Aoshi had raised an eyebrow, slightly, at the conspiratorial grins Megumi, Misao, and Sano had shared once Kenshin had left. However, he didn’t say anything until Misao had dragged him back onto the dance floor, leaving Megumi and Sano on their own with the drinks. 

Actually, Aoshi didn’t say much once they were back on the dance floor either, because she dragged him to a back corner that very few people knew about and pounced on him at the earliest opportunity. Between his lips and his hands, she had completely lost track of time, her own hands running over his chest and back, feeling the way his muscles flexed under her touch, anticipating being able to get him someplace where his shirt wouldn’t be in the way. 

When the ringing of the cellphone in his pocket broke the spell that they were under, Aoshi had reluctantly pulled back from where he was engaged in memorizing the way the skin of her neck tasted, swallowed hard, taken a deep breath, and answered it.

To his credit, his voice was perfectly steady. Misao was sure she could never have managed that.

_“Shinomori...” Aoshi answered brusquely, then listened intently to whoever was on the other end of the phone “ WHAT!?.... Yes... yes, I’ll be right there. Yes; I have everything that I need out in the car already.”_

_He flipped the phone shut decisively, and said, “Misao, I...”_

_“Business?” she’d asked, tilting her head._

_Aoshi closed his eyes briefly and then looked at her. “Yes. Something important; it’s actually the reason I’m in town at the moment...”_

_Misao’s smile was genuine as she tightened her arms momentarily, “Well, if it’s important, then you had better get going, hadn’t you? But I hope that it’s not the only reason you’re staying in town...”_

_Brushing his lips against hers as he let go, Aoshi murmured, “No.... not anymore.”_

_She had written her phone number and her address on a coaster and slipped it into his coat pocket, and told him that he’d better call her after he’d taken care of business._

_“It will be late...” Aoshi said, slightly hesitant._

_“Don’t care! Call me anyway!” Misao declared. She didn’t want to lose this, didn’t really want to let him out of her sight, no matter how important it was. This was a compromise._

_“I have a better idea, Misao. How about I buy you dinner tomorrow? I’ll pick you up at seven-thirty; we can catch a movie afterwards if you like...”_

_“Seven-thirty would be perfect..... although I probably won’t feel like watching a movie afterwards,” Misao admitted, just to see if she could get him to blush._

_Instead, he had looked at her with definite sparks in his eyes, pulled her close for one final, burning kiss, and breathed, “Good. Me neither.” over her lips as he released her._

_Then he had walked away across the dance floor, and Misao had stared appreciatively after his retreating figure, feeling giddy with happiness and anticipation._

_Mentally going over her wardrobe, she decided that she should really try to go shopping before her date. Not just because she wanted to look stunning, but also because she really felt that Aoshi deserved to see her in something new, something nobody else had seen her in before._

_Besides which, shopping would help the time pass more quickly, because if she had to spend the whole day in her apartment waiting for the clock to strike seven-thirty, Misao was fairly certain her brain was going to explode._

After she had finished breakfast, she washed the dishes, then went to give her wardrobe a thorough once-over before calling Megumi and Kaoru. This was going to take effort, planning, and caffeine.

* * *

Kaoru was tackled the minute she walked through the door to her family’s kitchen.

Looking down in surprise, she realized that her brother had thrown his arms around her waist and was holding onto her as if she would vanish if he let go.

“Hey! Hey, it’s ok,” she said, rubbing circles on his back, “I’m ok, Yahiko, really.”

_‘Kenshin talked to Yahiko last night,’_ she remembered, _‘And he said he called him afterwards, so Yahiko knew that I was in trouble...’_

Yahiko finally relaxed and backed up, his eyes suspiciously bright as he looked at his sister.

“I... He.. Kenshin said that you were in trouble, and then he said that you were ok, but... I wanted to help and come with him, but he wouldn’t let me...”

Flinching internally at the thought of Yahiko at the factory, where Jineh had been, Kaoru replied in a tone that still managed to be soothing, “No, it... it was good that you weren’t there. Kenshin took care of it, and I’m fine, ok?”

“What... who was it?” Yahiko asked, “Kenshin said that it was because of him, that somebody... that they took you...” he trailed off, uncertain.

Exhaling, Kaoru turned and went to pour herself a glass of water.

“Well,” she started, “It’s kind of complicated... see, somebody... somebody bad... they wanted to make Kenshin angry. And they were looking for a way to do that, so when they saw that Kenshin... was going to give me a ride home from the nightclub, they thought that... well, that we had been there together. And so they, um, assumed some things that weren’t true, and they grabbed me so that Kenshin would come after them. And he did, and he stopped them,” she paused to beat back a flood of memories of exactly _how_ Kenshin had stopped them, “and. well, they aren’t coming back. He took care of it.”

Yahiko nodded slowly, and Kaoru wondered how much he was guessing about what she meant by “took care of it.”

“So... why did he need a sword? And why was a sword under your bed? And why did it have all those weird paper things on it? And why was it, you know, under your bed?”

_‘Rats... I suppose it was too much to hope that Yahiko would have stayed out in the hallway, or that he wouldn’t have noticed that Kenshin was retrieving a sword from under my perfectly normal bed...’_

“Um..... “ She couldn’t lie to her brother. Well, she amended, not completely. Not when he already knew as much as he did. “The sword was something I found during high school; and I knew that it was dangerous, so I hid it. And I needed to make it look as little like a sword as possible, so I thought that sticking all that paper on it would work. And we always hide stuff under the bed, Yahiko; you do too, you know. As for why Kenshin needed it... I think it was something that the guy who took me was after, something that he thought was valuable. Like he could trade me for the sword, you know? I think that it was really old.”

_‘As opposed to being something that anybody could use nowadays, for example... that’s all, just a harmless old sword that might be valuable as an antique, and I found it after it was abandoned by gangsters, who later wanted it back.. It’s not totally implausible... much more believable than some crazy story about sword-wielding demons...’_

His expression showed that he wasn’t satisfied, not completely, but Yahiko nodded. “Ok. And... I mean, you’re sure that you’re fine? Your arms...” he trailed off.

“Oh, no, they just got a little bit scratched up. Nothing serious. In fact, one of the reasons I came over was to see if you were up for a sparring match, little brother.”

“Stop trying to convince me that you’re fine, ugly,” Yahiko retorted, his normal attitude towards his sister returning now that he was convinced she wasn’t hurt. “Besides, I can’t spar with you right now; I’ve got that beginner’s class to teach, since Dad’s meeting with some guy who’s interested in private lessons. You’re off the hook until tonight.”

Kaoru snorted, “Off the hook, yeah, right! Listen, brat, I can take you any day of the week, and don’t you forget it. Tomorrow afternoon: you, me, and a pair of bokkens. You pick the time.”

“Three o’clock. Don’t be late.”

“Fine.”

The staring contest was interrupted by the ringing of the phone. Yahiko picked it up and said, “Hello? Oh, hi Misao; yeah, she’s right here...” before handing the phone to his sister.

“Well, ugly, I’m off to class. Have fun with the Weasel!”

Kaoru looked around for something to throw at him, but couldn’t find anything other than the glass she was currently holding. Sighing, she held the phone to her ear and said, “Hi, Misao; what’s up?”

“Kaoru! Why are you at home? I mean, at your family’s home? I called you on your cell, and you didn’t answer; is everything ok?”

_‘Well, if you don’t count the crazed maniacs trying to kidnap me or, um, trying to keep me in their apartments... sure, everything’s fine....’_

“Sorry, Misao; I was just running a super-quick errand over here to get some things that were still in my bedroom, and I must have left my cellphone on the counter at home....”

She fervently hoped that Misao hadn’t been trying to call her for an hour already or anything else that could disprove her story. Luck seemed to be with her, since Misao leapt to the next subject with her usual agility, cellphone locations forgotten.

“Listen... do you have anything planned for this afternoon? Cause I have a date, and I need a new dress... and some new lingerie.... and possibly really high heels... Anyway, um, Megumi and I are going shopping, and I really, really, really want you to come along, because I really want your opinion, and it would be a chance to come shopping with us and be the one who gets to make all the comments and criticize whatever I pick, you know, to make up for all the other times when we’ve dragged you shopping.”

“You just don’t need the amount of oxygen that normal humans require, do you?” Kaoru remarked once her friend had finally stopped.

“Is that a yes?” Misao demanded, undeterred.

“Yes, you insane, crazy Weasel, I will come shopping with you and Megumi; I will meet you at the mall entrance by that fountain with the scary bronze ducks in half an hour. Or forty-five minutes if you expect me to have eaten first.”

“Half an hour, and we’ll hit the food court to plot a shopping strategy, ok?”

“Works for me. See you guys then!” Kaoru hung up and headed to her bedroom to find something to wear that wasn’t... well, that wasn’t soft and comfortable and faintly smelling like Kenshin. She considered taking another shower, just to get rid of any residual traces left by the clothes, but a quick glance at the clock persuaded her that she didn’t have time.

She made due with an extra dab of her favorite jasmine perfume behind her ears and on her wrists, breathing in the scent as an attempt to calm herself down. Digging in her closet and dresser, she found a very comfortable old pair of jeans that were still in fairly good shape, and a long-sleeved stretch shirt with a silkscreen print of a dark night sky that covered up the way her arms were bandaged. It was probably a bit dressier than what she would usually wear to the mall, but Kaoru didn’t have the time to dig around for anything else. 

She really didn’t want to get into a conversation with Misao and Megumi about why her arms were both bandaged. _Especially_ Megumi, who would insist on seeing what was under the bandages and knowing the full story. Kaoru wasn’t sure she could come up with a medically acceptable lie about where the scratches had come from. And she didn’t even want to _think_ about how she could try to explain that bruise mark.

_‘I should consider myself lucky he didn’t leave teethmarks... ‘_ Kaoru thought as she finished brushing her hair, and then blushed violently. _‘Damn it.... I am NOT thinking about this...’_

Grabbing one of her older purses out of the recesses of her closet, Kaoru frowned slightly. Her wallet, of course—well, except for her license and a twenty—was back in her apartment. True, she wasn’t planning on shopping, but.... considering that she was probably going to be having lunch and coffee with Misao and Megumi, and that she might end up seeing something she liked.... She exhaled in annoyance and made a mental note to start keeping mad money stashed in her car.

In the meantime, she supposed she had no choice but to raid the household coffee jar and leave a note, something that gave her a weird high-school flashback feeling that she really didn’t need, particularly this morning.

_‘Stupid idiot...treating me like I’m some sort of... of... security blanket cuddle toy without a mind of my own he can just... just... keep me and tell me what to do and.... and keep me in his apartment and feed me waffles...with real maple syrup...THAT was evil...’_

__

* * *

Misao and Megumi were already at the fountain, and Megumi seemed to have acquired a couple of shopping bags even before the other two got there. After Kaoru pointed out that it didn’t make sense to haul them around for the rest of the afternoon, Megumi put them into the trunk of her car and the three women headed to the food court for food and strategizing.

“You need to wear a dress,” Megumi said, “Something ladylike, Misao.”

“Why does she always feel this obsessive need to make everybody else adopt her fashion sense?” Misao asked the universe at large.

Kaoru stifled a giggle. Without much success. “Well, Misao, now you know what it’s like for me. Every time. And, for what it’s worth, I think I agree. This sounds like a guy who’s going to take you out for a nice dinner, and that deserves a nice outfit. You don’t have to be stuffy about it, but a dress would be a good thing.”

Considering, Misao said, “Hmm... I suppose a dress would be easier to remove than pants and a top, too.”

Megumi almost choked on her drink. Kaoru laughed loudly enough that several neighboring tables turned and stared.

“You do have the most interesting ways of picking your wardrobe,” Kaoru finally said once she’d calmed down enough to speak clearly. “Um... and are you sure that... I mean... um... you seem to have planned for... “

“Calling in sick all next week. Yup,” Misao replied with perfect composure that almost made Megumi choke on the drink she was taking to get over her first bout of choking.

“Ah,” Kaoru said, because there really wasn’t anything else to say.

“So, Kaoru, when are you going to be the one making embarrassing plans for the weekend?” Megumi inquired “I mean, I’ve got one, and Misao’s got one; isn’t it time that you got yourself a man?”

“Yeah, Kaoru; as your friends, we are ready to assist you, in any way we can!”

“Some kind of help is the kind of help we all can do without; in other words, trust me, I neither need nor want your assistance in finding me a man.” Kaoru shot back.

_‘Now if only they would offer to help me get RID of a man... demon...whatever... THAT would be useful...’_

Once they had finished lunch, they headed off to hit the stores. Since their mission was to find something with class and style, Megumi was in charge of boutique selection, Misao was in charge of preliminary dress selection, and Kaoru was in charge of sarcastic remarks.

It was a role reversal that she was extremely happy with. Although Megumi had such unerring good taste that there really weren’t many remarks for Kaoru to make. She contented herself with mocking the outfits on the mannequins, and occasionally making quiet snarky comments about the other customers.

“How’s this?” Misao asked, twirling in a black dress with a pattern of white pin dots across a fitted bodice and flaring skirt.

“You need more color,” Kaoru observed, “right now you look like you’ve escaped from Pleasantville... try that rack behind the Brittany Spears wannabe over there...”

“The Pleasantville comment was good,” Misao replied, “but you’re reaching on the Brittany comparison...”

“I just need practice; usually, I am the target of wardrobe-related sarcasm, and being responsible for it is a new thing for me.”

After several hours, they were trying to decide between another store or a coffee break to discuss the possibilities they had already seen. 

Kaoru, unsurprisingly, was arguing for coffee, but Misao, who was clearly keeping a close eye on the clock, wanted to hit a few more stores.

“Let me get this straight: _you_ are turning down _coffee_? Who are you and what have you done with my friend?” Kaoru demanded.

“Kaoru! My love for coffee continues unabated, but I also want to make sure that I get the right lingerie to wear under whatever dress I pick out, plus probably some thigh-highs, and that’s going to take time too. I say we hold off on coffee until after we have checked out all possibilities, and that way we can discuss and evaluate and then proceed directly to purchasing.”

“She’s got a good point, Kaoru,” Megumi said, “We only have a couple more places that I would classify as “must-see,” and after that we can sit down with our list.”

“You’ve been making a list?” Kaoru said, surprised, “Wow... you’re very organized about this... OK, as much as it pains me, you are my friends, and worth the sacrifice, and so I can wait for...”

Kaoru’s sentence was cut off suddenly as she felt an arm reach around her waist and a pair of lips press against hers firmly in a kiss that was warm and lingering and definitely more than just a friendly greeting.

Then it ended, and as she was still trying to get her bearings, a horribly familiar voice said, “Sorry I’m late, kitten; I still had a couple of things to take care of back at the apartment. I would have told you, but since you left while I was still in the shower, I didn’t get the chance. Oh, by the way,” Kenshin said as Kaoru stared at him in a kind of mute, horrified fascination. “You left your phone. And your wallet.”

Numbly, she reached out her hand to take them and put them into her purse. Realizing that Kenshin’s arm was still very definitely around her waist, Kaoru went to elbow him in the ribs before she noticed the expressions on her friends’ faces.

Megumi’s normally composed expression had been replaced by something close to gaping. And Misao had the gleeful shock of a child who’d suddenly gotten everything they’d ever wanted for Christmas, plus a pony.

_‘Oh... fuck...no....’_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Chapter: Kaoru thinks back fondly upon her time in that deserted factory.
> 
> Special Chronology Note: I just wanted to mention the fact that the past couple of chapters, and the next chapters, are taking place over a fairly short period of time—ie, the chapter where Kaoru dressed up, the club chapter, and the Jineh chapter were all set on a Friday; the previous chapter, this chapter, and the next chapter are on Saturday, and so on. Just so folks don’t get confused about how much time is passing within the story and so on.


	19. All’s Fair In...

“Ki... kitten?” Misao finally managed, staring at Kaoru.

“Mmm...” Kenshin said, wrapping his arm more tightly around Kaoru’s waist and planting a light kiss on her temple. “She purrs in her sleep,” he explained with a wink at the other two women that had Kaoru wishing the floor would swallow her up right that minute.

“So, can I buy you ladies a cup of coffee?” Kenshin continued cheerfully, his expression utterly open and friendly, a twinkle in his violet eyes. “Kaoru’s told me about your power-shopping trips, and it sounds like some caffeine would be a welcome break right about now.”

“Coffee would be great!” Misao chirped, her earlier objections forgotten.

“But... Misao... you wanted... shopping, and...” Kaoru said, her thoughts scattering as she tried to come to terms with her situation.

_‘Kenshin is here. And talking to my friends. About us. Except there is no “us,” he’s just making it sound like there is, with the greeting and the. .the kissing and the.. the.. statements and explanations and.. and the hand around my waist... Which is now.... in my back pocket oh dear Lord just kill me now...’_

“Do you just want to go to the food court or is there a cafe here you prefer?” Kenshin asked, apparently entirely unconcerned with the fact that Kaoru had gone completely still the minute she’d felt him move his hand.

Megumi immediately said, “Well, there’s a little cafe right next to the food court. Kaoru says it’s the best coffee in the mall, and even reasonably decent coffee for a non-mall situation, isn’t that right Kaoru?” 

“Um.. er.. yes?“ Kaoru managed, feeling like the situation had slipped completely out of her control.

_‘I am being groped. I am standing here in the mall, in public, with my overly nosy friends, and I am being groped. How exactly can I be expected to think about coffee or clothes or anything else when I am standing here and there’s a demon who’s got his hand on my...’_

“Well, I’m sure that you still have shopping that you want to get done, so why don’t we go and take care of your caffeine and sugar-related needs first?” 

And with that, Kenshin turned to lead the way. Kaoru, in the part of her brain that was still taking note of her surroundings, was positive that even if Kenshin’s right hand didn’t know what his left hand was doing, her friends certainly did.

To anybody watching, his arm was casually draped around her, his entire posture relaxed. However, when Kaoru attempted to step away, to put some distance between them, it was like trying to break iron, and the only result was that he pulled her closer, leaned in, and whispered, “Ah-ah, kitten, I don’t think so. You’re staying put this time.” And then, before he pulled back, she felt a brief nip at her earlobe that made her stifle a surprised squeak. The situation was bad enough; she refused to let her friends hear her squeak.

The walk to the food court had never seemed so long. Kenshin refused to adjust his position until they were walking through the cafe door, and even then, his arm remained carefully placed so that she couldn’t easily back away. He pulled her chair out for her, then guided her to sit down by putting his arm across her shoulder again. Nobody but Kaoru could really notice that he was pushing her into the chair more firmly than politeness really called for. Then he turned to the women, grinning in Kaoru’s direction and saying, “One grande latte machiatto with amaretto syrup, skim milk; Misao, Megumi, what would you like?”

Kaoru barely heard what her friends requested. _‘He.. he.. how does he know what I drink.. .and, more importantly, is there any way that I can persuade the two nosiest women this side of the Rockies that, really, Kenshin is just an old friend, nothing special, who is trying to work through a tragic mental condition that involves groping women with whom he has no romantic connection whatsoever...’_

“Oh, my GOD, Kaoruwhydidn’tyoutellmeyouwereseeingBattousai, er, Kenshin!” Misao squealed in a rush the minute Kenshin had headed over to the counter to place their orders.

“I have to admit, Kaoru, Sano and I were hoping that you and Kenshin would end up together, but I’m impressed that you managed it this quickly!” Megumi added.

‘ _So... that would be a “no” on being able to persuade them... wait.. Sano and Megumi were hoping WHAT?’_

“I.. um.. we... that is, Kenshin... “

Kaoru was at a complete loss. She obviously couldn’t tell her friends the truth, because that would involve words like “demon” and “kidnapped” and “dismemberment,” which didn’t seem like a good idea. And she obviously couldn’t tell her friends that she and Kenshin weren’t together, because, after Kenshin’s performance, they would probably find that even less believable than anything involving demons.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, Misao and Megumi were more than willing to pick up the conversational slack.

Misao turned to Megumi and said, “YOU were going to set them up? Hey, Kaoru, I thought that _I_ was the one you had given setting-up privileges to!”

“Who needs privileges? Sano wanted to set the two of them up on a blind date last month, but Kenshin had to be out of town, and it never quite worked out.” 

The image of being set up on a blind date and arriving to discover that it was _Battousai_ made Kaoru clench her hands into fists and blink sharply. 

“ _NOBODY_ is setting me up with _anybody_!” Kaoru declared through clenched teeth. “I am _not_ getting dragged into your ridiculous schemes to find me...”

“Well, of course not, now that you’ve got Kenshin,” Megumi said in a perfectly reasonable tone.

“Yeah, no wonder you said you didn’t need our help finding a man,” Misao giggled.

_‘I wonder if there’s a way that I can distract them and make a break for it... if only there was a display of amazing shoes at unbelievable sale prices over there instead of a children’s store... although maybe the children’s store would work for Megumi; hasn’t she been making biological clock noises when she thinks Sano isn’t...’_

She knew he was behind her again before he even set her drink down in front of her with a flourish. Somehow, in addition to their coffees, Kenshin was managing to carry a plate of double-chocolate brownies.

_‘Caffeine AND chocolate? Does he realize what happens to Misao when she gets caffeine and chocolate at the same time? Well, Kaoru, probably he does, because clearly he is trying his best to torture you, and what could possibly be worse than a hyperactive weasel who thinks that her best friend has finally found a man without telling her all the juicy details first...._

_I wonder if I could sneak back to that abandoned factory again...’_

Kenshin moved his chair so that it was almost touching Kaoru’s, and even managed to take a sip of his espresso before the questions began.

“So, Kenshin, how long have you and Kaoru been involved?” Misao asked, her blue-green eyes alight.

Kenshin flashed a dazzling smile and said, “Well, we met back in high school, actually, but then I lost track of her until recently...”

Before he could continue, Misao jumped back in and declared, “Oh, I know; I remember, the two of you were always looking at each other; I told Kaoru that you kept noticing her, but of course she said that you didn’t.”

Kenshin looked momentarily surprised, got his expression back under control, then remembered that surprise was a perfectly acceptable emotion under the circumstances and so went back to it. “You went to New East Capitol? I didn’t know that. So...” he continued, looking slowly back to where Kaoru was trying to work out if she could just die by choking on a brownie and end her misery right here, “Kaoru was looking at me back in high school, was she?”

The glare that she shot him over her coffee was mutinous and hostile. Fortunately, her friend and cousin were too engrossed in coming up with embarrassing questions to notice it.

“I wish that I’d known you were interested in me back then, kitten; it could have saved an awful lot of time.”

“Oh, back in high school Misao was always seeing dramatic romances between people who were totally unsuited to each other,” Kaoru responded with a sweetly acidic tone, “Besides which, you were too.. _involved_ with all those perfect blonde cheerleaders to notice anybody else. Which was the one who used to like plastering herself all over you in the library again?”

Maybe if she could just make Megumi and Misao believe that Kenshin was prone to sleeping around, she could recruit them as allies in her quest to get rid of him. Or at least help her with the part where he stopped trying to pretend to be her boyfriend.

To his great credit, Kenshin didn’t even tighten his hand around his espresso cup as he raised it to take another sip.

“I don’t actually remember that incident... and, you know, I might have known a bunch of the cheerleading squad, but I never dated any of them. They were just a group of kids that I hung out with.”

“Until they all ended up dead. Well, except for you; such a shame...The entire incident, really tragic,” Kaoru lamented.

“So did your parents send you someplace else after that?” Misao leapt back in, “I mean, I know Kaoru’s dad sent her to a school way across town, and my folks did the same thing, but some kids ended up in a different state. It’s such a shame that you didn’t wind up at the same school, Kenshin; then you wouldn’t have had to spend so many years looking for her!” She sighed slightly as she contemplated her second brownie, clearly envisioning years of heart-wrenching separation between two potential lovers.

“It’s a shame that you had to be out of town when we wanted to set the two of you up,” Megumi observed, “The two of you could have seen each other again so much sooner.”

Kenshin nodded. “If I’d known, I would have tried to re-arrange my schedule, but Sano never did say exactly who he wanted to set me up with. And, honestly,”-- and how he managed to make himself blush slightly as he said it, Kaoru had no idea—“I really didn’t want to be set up with just anybody. Meeting Kaoru... I mean... well, sometimes it just hits you, right here,” Kenshin mimed a gesture towards his heart that had her gritting her teeth and wishing he was holding something sharp.

“OOO! Like Cupid’s arrow!” Misao said, then blushed as she remembered the previous night at the club.

“Well, you’re lucky,” Megumi remarked as she put her mug back down, “Sano and I spent years dancing around each other and fighting before we actually got together. Then after we got together we spent years fighting and dancing around each other.. but now that we’ve finally gotten everything settled, it’s been great. “

Eager to turn the conversation to a different topic, Kaoru valiantly leapt in with, “So, does that mean that we’re finally going to be hearing wedding bells?”

“Well, sounds like _somebody_ is eager to catch that bouquet,” Megumi said, her eyes twinkling slyly.

_‘Rats.. I was sure that that would work...’_ Kaoru groused to herself. It seemed that the idea of her and Kenshin as a couple was going to remain the number-one topic of conversation, barring alien invasion or spontaneous combustion.

Misao giggled at Megumi’s statement and mischievously added, “Or do you just want Kenshin to catch that garter?”

“Misao!” Megumi scolded, “You’re going to traumatize the poor man! You’ll have to excuse Misao,” she said, turning to Kenshin. “She gets this way with caffeine. Or chocolate. Or sugar. Or... well, actually, Misao just gets this way without any help.”

“What? I’m just happy! I mean, I was starting to worry that Kaoru was going to be a virgin forever!”

This time Kaoru was sure she was going to choke to death on her coffee. At least, that’s what she was aiming for.

_‘Misao just.. and in front of... out loud and...’_

Her scattered thoughts coalesced into one overriding question.

_‘What could I possibly have done, in what previous existence, to deserve this?’_

She didn’t dare to look at Kenshin’s face, but she could see the way his long fingers momentarily tightened around his cup before he seemed to forcibly relax them. Kaoru really, really didn’t want to know what had run through his mind when he’d heard Misao’s declaration. Unless it was something along the lines of, “Good heavens! A virgin! I was not expecting that, and must now clearly alter my plans and seek somebody else to back up against a doorframe!”

In sheer desperation and panic, Kaoru did the only thing she could think of. 

“Misao! Shouldn’t we get back to shopping; I mean, if you wanted to get everything taken care of before your, um, date.”

As she said it, she leapt up from her chair, grabbing her purse. After a slightly puzzled glance at her watch, Misao concurred.

“Do I need to take the cups back up to the counter, or do they take care of that?” Kenshin asked as he stood up.

Megumi smiled and answered, “No, you don’t need to do anything. They’ll bus the table after we’ve left.” 

Kaoru, who could tell that Kenshin’s offer had just won him more points with her friends, glared at him from under her bangs when she was sure the other two couldn’t see her. Kenshin just smiled back at her, violet-eyed and completely unphased.

“It was lovely to see you two again, ladies; I hope that the rest of your shopping is a success!” he said smoothly.

“Oh, would you like to come along; you know, provide a male opinion on some of the dresses?” Misao said eagerly. Kaoru had to give her credit; she actually made it sound like she was asking Kenshin along for his opinion on dresses, and not because she was still thinking of ways to interrogate him.

“Welllll....” Kenshin said, with every appearance of careful consideration, “If you don’t mind, I would be honored to help out!”

His hand was intertwined with Kaoru’s before she could take more than half a step away from him, and, as Megumi pulled her list of stores from her purse, he brought it up and brushed his lips lightly across Kaoru’s knuckles, a gesture of casual intimacy that made her want to make a fist and try to give him a black eye.

“Besides which,” he continued smoothly, “maybe we can find something for you to wear next weekend, kitten.”

“Oh, I forgot; there’s a tournament next weekend; I’m going to be completely swamped. The whole time. Plus work. Lots and lots of work. That time of the semester, you know,” Kaoru babbled emphatically. 

“Oh.. that’s too bad.” Kenshin sounded sad, and Kaoru wondered if it said bad things about her as a moral person that that made part of her jump up and down and cheer in victory.

“If you’re going to be working all weekend, I’ll just come over and cook for us instead. You enjoyed the waffles for breakfast this morning, right?”

Apparently the answer to her question was not only ‘Yes, it does,” but universal karmic retribution was getting faster and faster. And developing a truly evil sense of humor.

About five minutes into the next boutique visit, Kaoru realized that her supposed status as a woman with a shiny new boyfriend meant that Megumi’s spider senses were fully activated and scanning the racks for things that would fit _her_ as well as Misao. No sooner had Misao been dispatched to the dressing rooms than Kaoru found several dresses dumped into her arms and her cousin was forcefully shoving her after their friend.

“Try these on!” Megumi hissed under her breath, “If you’d _told_ me that you had a boyfriend, I could have found something for you earlier, but I think that these will work well. You can thank me later. _And_ we are going shopping sometime next week after you get off work.”

Kaoru took the dressing room next to Misao and looked at what Megumi had picked out for her. There were two variations on the little black dress, one of which Kaoru discarded immediately based on the ruffles. The second was... well, even Kaoru thought that it was a bit plain. 

_‘I suppose that this is what I get for having a reputation as a boring dresser: boring dresses...’_

The third was a dark blue dress with subtle silver threads woven into it that Kaoru appreciated; she also liked the long sleeves and the mandarin-style collar.

_‘Hmm... now, I wonder why that could be.. I mean, what possible reason could I have at the moment for preferring clothing that makes me look like a nun on vacation in Amish country...’_

Megumi’s final choice was an intense crimson colored satin, the heavy fabric shimmering slightly in the light. The skirt was ankle-length, falling gracefully from a bias-cut bodice that emphasized the slenderness of her waist and the way that her hips flared. Actually, Kaoru was fairly certain that the way the skirt was cut made it flare slightly more than her hips, but she had to admire the effect. The straps were thicker at her shoulder and narrowed down to points where they met the rest of the dress. The effect, Kaoru decided, was supposed to be reminiscent of evening dresses from movies in the 1930s, elegant and civilized. 

It would even have worked if it hadn’t been for her bandages. Squinting, she tried to pretend that she was wearing long gloves and decided that overall, it was by far the best of the lot, that she loved the fabric, and that the lines of the dress were indeed both civilized and elegant. She felt like she should be holding a cocktail, or getting ready to dance around a ballroom or across the furniture.

_‘Now if only Megumi would stop picking dresses that have these... these.... ‘Hey boys, check these out’ necklines... I mean, it’s not even that low, it’s just the angles, I think, but still... it’s a bit much... not to mention it would be drafty... looks like we’re going with dress number two... if I decide to buy anything, which I really don’t have to... especially since... Ye gods! I am apparently going shopping with Megumi sometime later this week...’_

Kaoru reached around to grasp the top of the zipper and then gasped as warm fingers brushed over hers and took hold of the zipper tab before she could reach it. Looking up in shock, she saw Kenshin’s reflection as he stood behind her, his other hand reaching around her waist to rest on the opposite hip.

“Now _that_ is a very nice dress, kitten,” he purred softly against her neck and ear, “Very nice indeed...” he added, his eyes taking in every nuance of her reflection.

“This is the _women’s_ dressing room, you unforgivable cretin!” she hissed at him, kicking him in the ankle. Unfortunately, since she’d taken her shoes off to try things on, it really didn’t have any effect other then to make him smirk slightly, his amber eyes sparking with wicked humor.

“I know, but how else was I supposed to manage a private conversation with you, hmmm?” His fingers were slowly drawing the zipper down as he spoke, tracing a path along her spine, then across her shoulder blades once the dress had opened enough.

Carefully keeping her voice steady, Kaoru snapped, “Oh, I don’t know; use the telephone like a normal person? Or do you only pretend to be normal up to a certain extent? For example, how the _hell_ did you get in here when I _know_ that I locked the door? And how soon can you leave again by the same route, before I figure out a way to skewer you with a hanger? And... s-stop that!”

Her last injunction was slightly breathy, the result of Kenshin turning his attention once more to the nape of her neck, brushing his lips against her skin, flicking his tongue out lightly to taste her. In the mirror, all she could see was the fall of his bangs, until he suddenly drew back long enough for her to see the a brief glint as his fangs caught the light—and since when was he showing fangs again, she thought dazedly—before he returned to nibble lightly across where her neck met her back and shoulder.

Before she could even really figure out how he was making her feel, he had spun her and was leaning over her as she was pressed up against the mirror. It was really instinct rather than any kind of conscious thought that had her bringing up her arms to prevent the front of her dress from slipping. However, Kenshin didn’t look down; instead, he raised her chin up slightly with one hand so that she was making eye contact with him.

“You ran,” he stated decisively. “After I told you to stay put, because it was safer, you ran. I’m really not very happy about that, kitten.”

Tightening her jaw, Kaoru shot back, “You also said that it was safe. And I _never_ said that I was staying; you can’t expect to give high-handed orders and have me just obey them. If you can’t give me a reason beyond “because I said so,” then why on earth...”

Kenshin’s arms had tightened around her as his mouth came down on hers before she finished her sentence. Her hands were trapped between them, and she could do nothing but fist one hand in his shirt as she felt his hands running up and down her back, warm against her skin. Then he pulled back slightly, catching her lower lip and releasing it only reluctantly before kissing along the line of her throat, sucking lightly at the pulse-point in her neck, soothing it with his tongue. Kaoru bit her lip to stifle the noises threatening to bubble up out of her throat as Kenshin nibbled a path along her collarbone in a way that made her knees threaten to buckle under her. Then, his own breathing slightly heavy, he rested his forehead against her shoulder, the fall of his hair cool against her skin.

Then he raised his head again and looked at her with eyes the color of old gold in the moonlight.

“Don’t run from me, Kaoru. Don’t ever run from me.”

And with that, as she struggled to find words to respond, he turned and, quiet as a troop of cats, unlocked the door and slipped out before carefully closing it behind him.

From the lack of shrieks or commentary, Kaoru assumed he’d managed to leave without anybody seeing him. For once, she was glad that he had the ability to move like a shadow.

It took a full thirty second for her to get her breathing back under control and remind her knees how they were supposed to work.

It took only five additional seconds for her to remember that she was really, really peeved with Kenshin.

_‘That. Is. It!’_ Kaoru thought with determination _‘How dare he come in here and.. of all the arrogant... he has his sword back, and he still seems to enjoy bothering me, and I don’t understand what his problem is, or what kind of twisted demonic petty revenge scheme he has in mind for high school... well, I mean, I suppose that killing him wasn’t exactly ‘petty’. ..except it doesn’t seem to have bothered him, so there’s no reason for him to suddenly decide to torment me...’_

As she got dressed again, her temper still seething, Kaoru took several deep breaths so that she wouldn’t be greeting her friends with an expression that could cut glass.

_‘Damn it... I would leave town, except then he could get to my friends.. I don’t even know what I can do to stop him, now that he has his sword back.. and why does he keep.. .I mean, there’s no reason for him to have come in here and done that, unless he wants to keep me around for something, which I’m sure can’t be good....’_

_‘What am I going to do now? What can I possibly do?’_

Misao was already waiting for her when she came out of the dressing room, her arms full of a dark green fabric. Kaoru could see a hint of black tulle underskirt, and intricate tracings of beadwork on the bodice. 

‘Oh, Kaoru, there you are; Kenshin had to go, but he said to tell you that he’ll see you later on, ok?”

“Go?” Kaoru echoed, her brain caught between rejoicing that she was no longer going to have to face the dangerous mixture of Kenshin plus her friends and worrying what he could be up to now that she couldn’t see exactly what he was up to.

“Got a phone call,” Misao explained, turning to look at a display of earrings, “Didn’t seem happy about it; sounded like he was having trouble getting a word in edge-wise, and he got the funniest little wrinkle between his eyes... anyways, once he’d hung up, he said that, unfortunately, it was important, and that he had to go.... Do you really think that this is the best of the dresses, Megumi? Kaoru, you can have an opinion too, but you know that I’m not really going to listen...”

“That dress is a great color for you, Misao” Megumi enthused, “It’s going to make your eyes look fantastic... what do you have for eye make-up; do we need to stop by Sephora? Kaoru, which of those dresses are you going to get? I think that Kenshin would really like that red one..”

“NO!” Kaoru yelped, startled out of trying to decide if the beadwork on Misao’s dress was supposed to represent vines or a scroll pattern. “I mean, um, I didn’t really like any of them enough to get one today... the blue one was nice and covering... um... comfortable... I could really picture wearing that dress _all_ night. But I’m going to wait and think about it. There’s no rush; I don’t have any plans for anything where I would, you know, _need_ a new dress.”

“Kaoru, I have seen your wardrobe, and, trust me, you and Kenshin both deserve that you buy yourself new clothes. You’ll thank me for it next weekend.” Megumi countered.

“I doubt that,” Kaoru muttered under her breath, wondering if she could persuade her father to hold some kind of emergency last-minute tournament that weekend, possibly with an early Halloween theme. She would have considered asking Mr. Fujita to give everybody a surprise exam, but decided that he would enjoy it far too much. Besides which, she felt at least a little protective of her kid brother, even in school

Fortunately, since Misao’s date was that same evening and any hypothetical events for Kaoru weren’t until the following weekend, Megumi let the red dress stay on the rack where Kaoru had put it during her rapid exit from the dressing rooms. However, the way that her cousin ran her hands down the fabric one last time before they all left to head out and search for the perfect eyeshadow and mascara for Misao to wear made Kaoru slightly nervous.

_‘Well, if I’m lucky, Megumi will decide that that’s a perfect dress for her to wear.. which it is, really; much better for her than for me. Elegant and I aren’t always on speaking terms....although I would love a chance to wear that color...’_

Kaoru found it hard to pay complete attention to Megumi and Misao’s discussion of whether Mildew and Oil Slick would work well together or if Misao would end up looking like a beetle, since she was half-expecting Kenshin to pop out from behind the blush display. 

Pulling herself together, she said, “Hey, Misao—try this one! It’s called Stalker; that has a certain ring to it.”

“I resent that remark!” Misao grinned back, “I’ll have you know that I did _not_ stalk Aoshi. It doesn’t count as stalking if it takes less than half an hour.”

“Will the two of you _please_ be serious?” Megumi implored. “This is important, people! Alright, Misao, I’m getting you some aubergine mascara—you know, that purpley-eggplanty color—because that will bring out the green in your eyes—and then I’m thinking we need to do nice smokey eyes for you, with maybe a little lighter purple, maybe a liner with some glitter in it... not too much, though.”

“I know, I know,” Misao said, “You’re just never going to let me forget Spring Formal senior year, are you?”

“Not as long as I have the pictures,” Megumi said serenely, “I keep them just in case the power goes out and we need a light source.”

“Just look upon this as karmic retribution for the blue stripes in my hair,” Kaoru piped up, fidgeting with a bottle of lime green nail polish.

Sighing, Misao let Megumi pick up the products that they needed and then head to the register. 

After they’d gotten the make-up, Misao frantically looked at her watch and declared that she absolutely, positively, _had_ to make an emergency stop to buy new lingerie. 

“You guys have to come with me; I need your opinions on things! Megumi, you helped pick the dress, what do you think will go with it?” And with that, the petite girl latched onto Megumi’s arm and started heading for the stores, talking and gesticulating rapidly. 

Kaoru, who after the afternoon’s encounter and Misao and Megumi’s shiny new assumptions about her love life, absolutely, positively did _not_ want to be anywhere _near_ a lingerie store with either of them, babbled an excuse about needing to get home and correct papers and practice before going to bed. She wasn’t sure if it sounded plausible, but fortunately, Misao had gone into full date-related-panic, and Megumi was too focused on calming a panicking weasel to notice Kaoru’s determined escape.

As she exited the mall, Kaoru spared a thought for her friend. She hoped that Misao’s date went well...

.... and for once, she didn’t mean that she hoped it was the date who didn’t come back traumatized. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Chapter: Aoshi. Misao. Date. ‘Nuff said.
> 
> Author's note: Between kendo, family, school, and living at home with her dad and Yahiko, Kaoru has not had any time to date, even slightly- a fact which Misao and Megumi have been trying to remedy for years via various and sundry plots of various and sundry levels of evilness.
> 
> In this chapter I don’t own: Urban Decay’s Stalker (intense lilac with silver glitter), Oil Slick (black with rainbow glitter), or Mildew (shimmery metallic green). But I love the names.


	20. Angels Dining at the Ritz

After Megumi had dragged Angel Marie out to the car, with lots of muttering under her breath about idiot dogs, stupid roosters who promised to look after said idiot dogs, and weasels who blackmailed stupid roosters into making that kind of promise in the first place, Misao was finally alone in her apartment. 

_‘Calming breaths, calming breaths...’_ she repeated to herself as she walked back and forth on the carpet in her living room. _‘All of the clutter is put away... or at least well-hidden... the fridge is both cleaned and stocked.... the dog is bothering Sano until I come and pick him up... so, nothing to do but wait.’_

She wasn’t really nervous that Aoshi wouldn’t show up, not after the way that he’d kissed her at the club. Well, she was slightly nervous about the possibility that Aoshi might call and say that he couldn’t make it due to business, but she told herself that that was a reasonable thing to be nervous about, not at all obsessive, since he’d had to leave because of business once before. 

Which, at this point, made it a hundred percent of the times they’d been together that he’d had to leave because of business. 

But Misao wasn’t going to think about that. Really, she wasn’t. She was also not going to pace, hyperventilate, or make a beeline for her secret stash of chocolate. Because Megumi had just spent a really long time making sure that Misao’s lipstick was perfect, along with the rest of her make-up, and, even though it was supposed to be that new kind of lipstick that stayed put no matter what, she really didn’t want to risk messing it up before Aoshi had even gotten the chance to see her, and...

_‘CALMING breaths!’_ Misao repeated to herself, fidgeting slightly with the cap sleeves of her dress to make sure that the neckline was behaving itself. She honestly couldn’t remember the last time she’d been this nervous before a first date. Or a second date. Or even a third date. 

Fortunately, before she had to remind herself that she was also not going to bite her nails, fidget with her hair, or attempt to re-alphabetize her spice cabinet, the doorbell rang. Misao pressed the intercom button and said, “Yes?” 

Aoshi’s deep voice managed to resonate in spite of the static as he said, “Misao? Are you ready to go?” 

“You bet!” she practically sang, “I’ll be right down, ok?” Grabbing her purse and slipping her coat and shoes on, Misao headed for the elevator. 

Aoshi looked... well, he was still wearing that white trenchcoat, but underneath he had changed into a dark suit and tie combination that made Misao’s heart flutter briefly against her ribs. 

_‘Calming breaths, and NO staring!’_ she told herself firmly as Aoshi put his arm almost around her shoulder to guide her back to where his car was parked. Misao admired the sleek lines of it, the way that the black paint reflected the streetlights. It was a car that exuded good taste and power, and she thought that it was a perfect match to the man opening the door for her. 

“Do you like Italian?” he asked once they were underway, “I made reservations, but I can change them if you’d prefer something else...” 

“No, no; I love Italian! That would be great!” Misao replied, grinning and enjoying the soft leather of the seats. 

The rest of the drive to the restaurant passed quickly. Aoshi was a very good driver, she noticed; he never seemed to be driving too fast, or moving too quickly. Instead, he was completely calm and unhurried, never uncertain of where he was going. 

For someone who didn’t live in the city, it was impressive. 

The restaurant he took them to was one she didn’t know; it was small, full of candlelight and the smells of really good Italian cooking. The walls were painted with colorful murals of Florentine streets, and there were fresh flowers on all the tables and the windowsills. They were shown to their table almost as soon as they walked through the door, an intimate booth towards the back where Misao could have a view of the small fountain up against one wall. 

Not that she was planning on spending any time looking at the fountain. 

When the waiter brought the menu, Aoshi said something to him in Italian, then turned to Misao and said, “Would you prefer to have the courses served in the traditional Italian fashion, or would you rather follow the American order of things?” 

“Oh...” Misao blinked. “I hadn’t actually... what would you recommend?” 

The look that he gave her across the table almost had her flushing nervously again, but she held his gaze and took advantage of the opportunity to study the way his eyes caught the candlelight. 

“I always feel that a meal is more enjoyable if one follows the customs of the country.... but that does not mean that we have to do things that way.” 

“No, no; I’ve never been here before, so I’ll trust your judgment on this,” she replied. There was a brief flicker of a smile in Aoshi’s eyes as he turned back to the waiter and said something else that Misao assumed was a wine order or comment about how they were going to order. The man nodded and departed. 

Misao concentrated on the menu, finally deciding on a spinach risotto for the first course and a marinated grilled salmon with fresh vegetables of the day as the second course. 

After a few minutes, the waiter returned with a bottle of wine whose label Misao didn’t recognize and a plate of antipasti. Aoshi tasted the wine, nodded approvingly, and then they gave their orders. 

“So, are you enjoying your stay here?” she asked Aoshi as he filled their glasses. 

“Yes, actually; it’s been quite a while since I’ve been here... it’s nice to be back and see what’s changed, what’s stayed the same...” 

“Oh, that reminds me; did your business last night get taken care of?” 

A look that was almost startled passed across Aoshi’s face before he said, “Yes.... thank you. I’m sorry that I had to leave so suddenly... it was... an important piece of business that we’ve been trying to take care of completely for a very long time now.” 

The wine was very, very good, and Misao swirled her first sip around in her mouth appreciatively before she replied. “It’s ok, really. I said it was ok last night, and it’s still ok. I mean, if you’ve been working on something for a long time, you have to see it through when you have the chance, right?” 

“True.” 

“Anyway, I’m just glad that you took some time off and went to the club last night. Because otherwise, you wouldn’t have been there when I was there, and then we wouldn’t have met, probably, although I’ve always thought that when you’re _supposed_ to meet someone, then you definitely... um... I mean, it was nice that... um... hey, stuffed olives!” 

Misao wasn’t always good at judging the extent to which she was babbling... but she was fairly certain that she was doing it more than normal in the presence of the dark-haired man who was looking at her with those inscrutable, pale blue eyes that seemed to be displaying the faintest spark of humor in their depths. 

Fortunately, the arrival of the first course meant that there was no need for conversation for the next several minutes. The risotto was excellent, perfectly cooked and seasoned. Misao closed her eyes and sighed rapturously, missing the expression that crossed Aoshi’s face at her actions. 

“So... Misao... what do you do?” he finally asked. 

“I’m an architect! With a side in interior design. Well, I mean, I’m finishing my Master’s Degree, and doing an internship, for Nenji Kashiwazaki and Co. It’s great! I mean, I’m working on a library right now, they’ve got a government grant to try to draw in more kids and teens, you know? So I’m trying to design a building that’s modern, and inviting, and comes across as _interesting_ , not some boring old brick box with horrible lighting and those awful old wooden shelves, the kind that they always have in movies where they get knocked over and squish people. Oh, and lots of computers and Internet stuff. Although we’re having a big fight right now about blocking software; the government types _really_ get nervous if they think for a minute that anybody could ever access porn on a library computer, you know?” 

“Mmm. I imagine.” 

“It makes you wonder if they’ve ever _read_ some of the classics that are in the library. I mean, hello, there are things in Chaucer, and Shakespeare, not to even _mention_ D.H. Lawrence, who I personally have never liked, but I guess that some people do. Right now the blueprints have a really big skylight in the middle of the ceiling, and then an opening in the floors, kind of an atrium, with this whole space for couches and some tables on the ground floor, right underneath... Sano said that it is kind of like the plans I made for Killer Bluez—you know, the club last night?—and keeps teasing me about designing nothing but buildings with holes in the middle, but I keep telling him that first of all, Bluez was built around a pre-existing, multi-level factory plan, and second, if you want to create a comfortable environment for people to come in and spend time and read instead of staying home all day and watching TV, you _have_ to have an atmosphere with a lot of light in it.” 

“That makes sense.”

As the second course arrived, Misao realized that she had been monopolizing the conversation. Well, she often monopolized the conversation, but she usually didn’t realize it. Or get bothered by it. 

“So... um... what do you do?” she asked, poking a piece of zucchini with her fork. 

No sooner were the words out of her mouth than she realized that she’d interrupted Aoshi just as he was taking a bite of steak. Before she could open her mouth to apologize or drop her fork to whap herself on the head, he managed to chew and swallow in a way that looked entirely calm and unhurried. 

“Mostly I do free-lance consulting work,” Aoshi said, “And some trouble-shooting.” 

“Family business?” Misao offered, remembering what Aoshi had said at the club the previous night. 

He blinked. 

“Yes... that is, the company originally started out as a small family business, and I like to think that it’s stayed true to its roots.” 

“Do you travel a lot? I mean, since you’re in town now, but it sounded like it was just for one assignment....“ Misao trailed off. 

_‘Very subtle, Weasel-girl..... ‘_ she chided herself, _‘Why don’t you just ask him for his entire work schedule and address and phone number and resume and what he wants to name the children...’_

Not seeming to notice her uncharacteristic silence, Aoshi answered, “There’s a fair amount of travel, although this particular assignment was a special case. I got called in to help out as a favor to an old friend.” 

“Oh... so, you, um, won’t be staying in town... long?” Misao asked, frowning slightly. She tried very hard not to sound disappointed. 

Aoshi’s expression was almost a smile as he replied, “Well... this is a shorter trip, but I’m often here for longer periods. It’s why I keep an apartment downtown.” 

She couldn’t hide her grin at that piece of information. Although she did try. 

The rest of the second course, and the salad, passed in small talk. Which of course meant that Misao spent most of the time talking and Aoshi made occasional remarks. By the time dessert arrived, she had covered her job, her family, her dog, politics, modern architecture and design, the weather, and literature, with a brief digression about kites. She found that she loved watching his hands, the way every movement was precise and graceful. She also found that she was more than slightly obsessed with the way his long bangs fell forward. Her fingers itched to reach up and push them out of the way so that she could see his eyes better. 

Over dessert, Misao said, “This is great... I mean, the entire dinner... the risotto, and the thing that they did with the fish, and the salad dressing... It really... um... dressed the salad. And this panna cotta..,” she paused to enjoy the last spoonful, “it’s amazing. Really.” 

“I’m glad that you approve,” Aoshi answered. “Espresso?” 

“No... no,” Misao said, “I think that I’m ready to be done with dinner...” She looked directly at him as she said it, and was rewarded by the way his eyes widened slightly and one corner of his mouth quirked up for a moment before his usual calm expression returned. 

“Good. Me too,” he replied, something in his tone sending an anticipatory shiver down her spine. 

As much as part of her wanted to grab him, drag him back to the car, and ask him if he wanted to come back to her place or drive to his, Misao made herself remain calm as Aoshi called to the waiter, asked for the check, and paid the bill, all of his actions unhurried, completely calm. 

_‘There’s a lot to be said for a man who knows how to take his time,’_ she reminded herself, ducking her head to hide her sudden blush. 

From Aoshi’s raised eyebrow, Misao could tell that her blush hadn’t stayed hidden from him. 

From the glint in his eyes, she could guess that the reason for it hadn’t stayed hidden from him either. 

As they exited the restaurant, Aoshi clasped Misao’s petite hand in his own, interlacing their fingers. The warmth of their joined hands made her smile and squeeze back. When they reached his car, he opened the passenger door for her and briefly brushed his lips across her knuckles as he released her hand and closed the door. 

_‘This,’_ Misao thought to herself with a kind of anticipatory conviction as Aoshi began driving, _‘has definitely been the most romantic evening of my life, ever, and we haven’t even kissed yet.... is it too obvious if I just ask him to come up to my apartment for...’_

“Would you like to come up to my apartment for coffee, Misao?” Aoshi asked, his eyes on the road. 

She giggled; she couldn’t help it. At his raised eyebrow, she managed, “Aoshi... don’t you think that that’s a little... I mean... we both know... I mean, really, do you honestly expect coffee to play a part in my coming up to see your apartment?” 

“You don’t take coffee with breakfast?” he asked, complete unperturbed.

Misao blinked. Twice. Then she smiled, a completely incandescent grin that lit up the interior of the car.

“Coffee,” she declared authoritatively, “would be absolutely lovely.”

In the streetlights, Aoshi’s answering expression was both pleased and slightly predatory, and it sent another shiver down Misao’s spine, one that seemed to lodge in her stomach and stay there as they continued down the darkened streets.

The building where his apartment was located was new; Misao remembered reading about it in one of her classes, where it had been praised for several innovative features which she honestly couldn’t remember anything about at the moment. Aoshi pulled into the parking garage and drove several floors down to a numbered spot in a row near the elevators.

Once again, he was at her door and reaching a hand out to her practically before she’d gotten her seatbelt undone. Aoshi pulled her up easily, surprising her. With a surprised little gasp, she ended up falling against him and then standing, frozen. Her free hand was clenched in his coat, and her nose pressed up against his chest. Misao closed her eyes and basked in the scent of him, green tea and the warmth of sandalwood. Then, with a sudden exhalation, Aoshi’s arms were around her and he was leaning down to plant a series of kisses down from where her hair had been twisted into an intricate knot along her temple, his lips brushing lightly against her skin. She tilted her head up to meet him, opening her mouth slightly as their lips met.

The chemistry between them was as powerful as it had been the night before, an instant electricity that had Misao arching against him and reaching up to run her fingers through his hair, her nails lightly scratching his scalp. Aoshi made a noise that sounded somewhere between a groan and a growl, and she found herself suddenly lifted up onto the hood of his car and pulled even more tightly against him as she wrapped her legs around his waist in response. The action made Misao’s dress hike up slightly, and Aoshi took advantage of it to run his hand up the outside of her leg, making another noise in the back of his throat when he encountered the top of her stocking, his fingers tracing the pattern of the lace. 

Misao wasn’t sure if she was feeling her heartbeat or his echoing through her chest, but it seemed to be racing almost faster than she could keep track of. She suddenly realized that she had at some point started unbuttoning his shirt, and was running eager fingers across his collarbones. 

Then, suddenly, Aoshi went completely still. With infinite caution, he drew back slightly, although his arms almost seemed to tighten. He was resting his forehead against hers, but it seemed to Misao as if he was paying attention to something entirely different.

She listened, but she couldn’t hear anything. Everything seemed quiet; even the faint flickering noise of the fluorescent lighting seemed to have died.

“Ao—?” she started, before he moved with a flash of white and a grip on her that was so tight she couldn’t breath for a moment as he carried them both over the hood of the car and then down against it on the other side, just as there was a flash of something close behind them and a horrible grinding noise that ended with a smell Misao identified as transmission fluid and oil.

She blinked as she looked at the car and realized that it now had five long gashes across the hood, deep enough that she could see the innards of the engine.

_‘That... what...’_ Misao thought, her hands clenching reflexively in the fabric of Aoshi’s trenchcoat, her heart pounding for entirely different reasons than it had been a few minutes ago.

“Are you alright?” he asked, his voice resonating through her with his proximity.

“I’m fine,” she answered quickly, “Are you alright, Aoshi? What’s going...”

There was a sound like a shriek of disappointment from somewhere in the darkness, high and piercing. Aoshi made a noise in response that was like a low growl under his breath and Misao was fairly sure that he had sworn.

“Owls...”

“Who?” she blurted, and then, blinking, corrected “Um... sorry... I mean... Aoshi, please, what exactly is out there? “

He didn’t answer her right away, and when he did, she got the feeling that he was choosing each of his words carefully.

“Misao... listen to me... I want you to stay hidden, please. This... is going to be dangerous, and I need... I need to know that you’re safe.”

She looked up at him, sea-colored eyes widening. Aoshi was looking down at her with determination and something that in anybody else would have been close to pleading.

There was another set of shrieks from the darkness, and a shower of sparks as several of the lights were shattered. A car alarm squealed, but only for a moment before it was brutally silenced.

Misao looked at the expression on his face, noting the set of his jaw. She stared deep into Aoshi’s eyes, and what she saw there made her own jaw tighten before she nodded once, slowly. 

Closing his eyes briefly, Aoshi dropped a quick kiss on her forehead as his arms tightened around her once more. 

Then he was gone, leaping over the car in a single fluid motion. There was a flash of silver, and two short swords were suddenly in his hands, his posture fierce as he searched for his targets in the darkness.

_‘S... swords? When did he... ok, even if I didn’t notice that he was carrying swords over dinner, I really would have noticed it by the time I had my hands on his... unless I was too caught up in what he was... but I think that I would have noticed swords, for Pete’s sake...’_

The first figure came out of the darkness with a kind of rapid shamble. Overly-large hands ended in vicious-looking steel claws that clacked together hungrily, and Misao could see enough of its face to feel grateful that it was wearing a mask. It roared and charged, and Aoshi seemed to disappear before he was suddenly on the other side of a monster that gave a single surprised choking sound before it collapsed, scrabbling weakly on the parking garage floor until he came up behind it and gave a final quick stab to its neck.

Even as he finished, two more came lurching out of the darkness, and he spun to face them, swords held at the ready. One of them bared misshapen teeth and swung down, but Aoshi evaded and pivoted, and the arm that had swung at him was on the floor. Then he seemed to blur, to be circling the two monsters which were clearly puzzled, turning in a vain attempt to keep up with his fluid motions.

Misao didn’t see when it happened, but suddenly Aoshi had moved from circling to attacking, and both of his opponents fell with a set of six perfect slashes across their chests. Aoshi hadn’t even broken a sweat, she noticed. Which was good, because the alert wariness of his posture suggested that the attack wasn’t over yet.

_‘I think I may have to re-evaluate that “most romantic evening’ comment... ‘different,’... it definitely wins points for different’_ Misao thought from her position behind the car. _‘I’ve never seen a technique like that at any of the kendo tournaments.... but those aren’t European-style short swords... kodachi, I think.... which presumably he and those... those things already know, which means it’s not particularly helpful information... dammit, I want to be able to do something....to not just sit here and watch as...’_

“Aoshi!” she cried out suddenly as several more of the shambling figures advanced from the darkness behind him with glowing eyes.

He turned in an instant and snarled at them, and she felt a sharp shock as she realized that Aoshi was quite literally baring his fangs at his enemies.

_‘OK... weirdness quotient just went up... ‘cause I KNOW he didn’t have THOSE in the restaurant. I’ve dated guys with piercings, tattoos, pierced tattoos, and some very strange hair coloration choices, but... fangs? That is definitely new... if Rod Sterling steps out from behind some hidden camera, I am not going to be at all surprised. Except that he’s dead. Although, considering the rest of recent events...’_

Several more of their attackers were lying on the floor, and Aoshi leapt down on another, twin swords flashing, then pivoted to take on the next, kicking upwards to break its jaw before he slashed.

The only warning that Misao had was a slight shifting in the darkness behind her, a sudden prickling on the back of her neck. She ducked instinctively and reached into her purse for the mace she always carried as a heavy arm shattered the glass of Aoshi’s windows. By the time she came out of her crouch, she was closer than she really wanted to be to teeth and dripping saliva and muscles that somehow just looked _wrong_.

“Ugh, you _reek.._.” Misao grimaced as she sprayed directly into sickly yellow eyes.

The creature howled, and brought its hands up to try to free itself from the burning pain.

“And you’re not too bright, either... eww...claws, eyes, bad, ewww....” She grimaced and backed up as fast as her heels allowed.

The commotion had drawn Aoshi’s attention, and he spun faster than thought, blue eyes burning with cold fire. As much as Misao had thought he was snarling before, his expression now was pure fury. Dispatching his current opponent with a swift double-stroke downwards, Aoshi was around the car and the recently-maced monster was definitively put out of its misery.

Looking down at the remains, then up to where Aoshi was casually flicking the blood... or whatever it was... from his blades, Misao raised one eyebrow and commented, panting slightly, “You certainly know how to show a girl an... interesting time.... Look out!”

Then they both ducked as another arm clawed jerkily out of the darkness, forcing them to move backwards towards the wall. Aoshi positioned himself in front of Misao as swiftly and silently as a shadow, weapons at the ready. Looking around, Misao took stock of their situation, attempting to calculate where further attackers might come from. She wasn’t sure how much mace was left in the little canister she had for her evening bag, and tried to think of anything else that she had with her that might possibly do damage.

Struck by inspiration in the form of one of Sano and Megumi’s more legendary break-ups, Misao reached down and slipped off her shoes, holding onto one of them and placing the other on the ground. When another arm started to reach out of the darkness towards Aoshi, Misao yelled, “Back OFF!” and struck downwards with the heel, so that there was a howl of pain and a sudden retreat, the pointed heel penetrating through black cloth to lodge in skin and muscle.

_‘Damn... those were new, too...’_ Misao thought unhappily as she picked up the remaining shoe.

Aoshi turned, surprise clearly written on his face as he almost absently dispatched the other assailant. Recovering quickly, he commented, “We can’t allow any of them to escape,” as he moved past her to chase the thing that she’d just wounded.

As Misao stood, shoe at the ready, wondering at her own relatively calm acceptance of the situation, a howl arose from the darkness into which Aoshi had moved—a howl that was cut off as soon as it had started. After several seconds of tense waiting, he strode back around the car, his coat glimmering faintly in the remaining light.

“That was the last of them,” he informed her. “Are you hurt, Misao?”

_‘Good question...’_ she thought. She hadn’t had time to think about it. Looking down at herself, she answered, “No... I think that anything that’s gotten onto the dress is from them... none of them got close enough to do anything. How about you?”

She didn’t actually think that Aoshi had gotten injured at all either, but she was trying to find something to say while she figured out what exactly she wanted to say.

“Thank you for not letting the monsters get me” seemed inane; “Congratulations, you have won the ‘most unique first date’ award, an honor for which the competition was surprisingly close” wasn’t quite what she wanted to say either.

Aoshi looked down at himself, obviously having had no more time to devote thought to possible injuries than she had while the battle was still going on. “No, I don’t think so. The Owls might have improved their skills, and there were more of them this time, but, as minions go, they’re still mindless low-ranking idiots.”

“You know, I don’t think I’ve ever had to ask any of my dates if they were human before...well, maybe once...” Misao mused thoughtfully as she ineffectually tried to brush at some of the spots on her bodice.

She really wished that she had a camera with her to capture the blush—she was sure it was a blush—that spread slowly across Aoshi’s face. 

“Ah...” he said, and didn’t seem to quite know how to continue.

Tilting her head and quirking an eyebrow, Misao observed, “Hey... your fangs are gone again! Unless I was hallucinating that you had them... but they seemed to be, um, pretty obvious and fang-y.”

“No... I mean, yes...” Closing his eyes, Aoshi took a deep breath. “Yes, they’re gone; yes, they were there in the first place; no, you weren’t imagining it....”

He seemed to be at a loss for what else to say, so Misao filled in the silence with, “Bet you weren’t expecting this situation, were you?”

“No,” Aoshi said, re-sheathing his swords in a long single sheath she was _quite_ sure he hadn’t had at the restaurant, or in the car, or at any point up until the moment when he’d drawn his swords.

“The attack or the discussion which we’re currently having?”

“Both. Well, I knew that we’d have something like this discussion eventually,” he admitted. “At least I hoped that we would. Just... not this soon.”

Misao was suddenly glad that she had one shoe left, because she was starting to get an urge to whap him with it, or at least brandish it threateningly.

“So you were going to go out with me and then tell me _later_ that oh, by the way, you’re actually... um... what _are_ you, actually?”

“In your terms, I believe it would be a demon.” Aoshi stated, his normal calm returning. 

She really wished he knew how he did that. 

“A demon. As in, well.... demons, and weird pointy ears and fangs and claws and... you don’t have a tail, do you?” Misao demanded.

“Um... No. And my ears aren’t...”

Before he could finish his sentence, Misao continued, “And... and... those _Owls_ , or whatever it was that attacked us? Were they demons too?”

Aoshi glanced towards the bodies with an expression of cool disdain. “The Owls are nothing but inferior copies. They were created to be brainless thugs.”

“I would say that they were a success,” she commented.

He snorted. “You should have seen the first batch; they couldn’t even...”

Then he fell silent, clearly anticipating her next question. Misao rolled her eyes. “If you know I’m going to ask, why don’t you just say it?”

“It was meant as a warning,” Aoshi finally answered. “They were sent by someone who knew that they couldn’t possibly beat me; in fact, I doubt he even expected them to wound me. And they had no idea that you would be here, so it’s not like it was with ... it’s not as if they thought they could hurt _you_. It was meant as a warning to me, an opening move....”

“Why is someone picking _you_ to play chess with, so to speak?” 

This time the pause was so long that Misao was sure he wasn’t going to answer her at all, that he was so caught up in his own reflections and meditations on the evening’s events that he barely remembered she was there. Then he said, “History. Memories. A particularly bad decision on my part. The knowledge that I would be aware of all of this and that it would form the basis of my response to this particular gambit.”

“Any chance of getting you to be less cryptic tonight?”

“Not really,” he admitted. 

There was an awkward silence between them as they each tried to figure out what to say next. Well, Misao was trying to figure out what to say next; she couldn’t tell if Aoshi was doing the same thing, analyzing the attack, or planning his response to it.

Finally, she broke the stillness by asking, “Do we... need to clean anything up down here, or can we go upstairs?”

There was genuine surprise in Aoshi’s eyes as he said, “You... you want to... Are you sure that you don’t want to just go home?”

Misao raised an eyebrow and said, “With one shoe, and a dress splattered with monster guts? That’ll get the cabs to stop for me.”

“I could...”

“I suspect the cops would frown on you driving a car with broken windows and, let’s not forget,” she said, gesturing with the hand holding the shoe, “massive engine damage.”

Aoshi gave a rueful half-smile and said, “You have a point. In that case, would you like to come upstairs?”

“Yes, actually,” Misao said thoughtfully. “I think that I would.”

The elevator was almost noiseless as it quickly ascended to one of the top floors. Aoshi’s apartment had a stunning view of the night skyline, and Misao’s gasp as they stepped into the room was genuine. She was very thankful that he had thick, plush carpeting that felt wonderful on her stocking-clad feet.

“Can I get you something to drink?” he asked politely as he hung up his trenchcoat and suit jacket.

Misao twirled to where Aoshi was standing next to the bar area. Cocking her head to one side, she said, “That would be nice. I appreciate the attempt to either help me to calm down or restore normalcy to the situation, by the way. And nothing with alcohol, please.”

“I’m glad that you... appreciate it,” Aoshi said softly. “I have some fruit juice, or mineral water.”

“Mmmm... surprise me!” she said.

While Aoshi was in the kitchen, Misao took the time to look over his apartment, at least as much as she could in the light coming in from the windows, and think about her situation.

_‘Ok, the man that I... well, the entire issue is that he isn’t a man, I suppose....still, fangs aside, he seems to be the same. Not like he’s exactly been Clark Kenting and pretending to be a harmless fluffy bunny for the past twenty-four hours... which brings me to the question of how I feel about him... this... well, yes, him. How do I, Misao Makimachi, now feel about Aoshi Shinomori, demon and very deadly fighter who apparently has somebody about to come after him?’_

Her musings were interrupted by Aoshi returning from the kitchen with two glasses. She accepted one gratefully and covered her confusion by taking several sips. 

“It’s apple juice with mineral water,” Aoshi explained as he saw her raise one eyebrow.

“Oh...,” Misao said, “It’s very... it’s refreshing.”

_‘Just the thing after a shocking revelation and a bunch of monsters.... great, Misao, it figures you’d have trouble figuring out what to say just when it’s important. And he’s clearly not going to say anything, which leaves it up to you.’_

Aoshi had gone to lean against one of the windows, having set his glass down on the coffee table. She could see the tension in his shoulders, and wondered what he expected her to do or say. Misao walked across towards him on silent feet and stood next to him. Glancing sideways, it suddenly occurred to her that he looked as if he was holding himself apart, from the world or from her, she wasn’t sure. 

He looked terribly... lonely, she realized. Setting himself apart and keeping barriers up between himself and the rest of the world, his coldly collected appearance becoming the perfect defense. 

“Aoshi?” Misao inquired, wondering how on earth she could start the conversation that they needed to have.... assuming she could figure out exactly what that conversation was in the first place.

“You should go,” Aoshi stated abruptly, without turning to face her. 

“I should... didn’t we cover this already?” Misao asked, one eyebrow raised.

“I can give you some clothes to wear home, and then I can call a taxi for you,” Aoshi continued.

“Ok, if that’s what I wanted, I would have asked you, you know. I’m usually not shy about asking things,” Misao pointed out.

“Misao...” Aoshi said, finally turning to face her, the light of the city reflecting in his eyes and casting shadows across his face. “I don’t think... I don’t think that you should be... Misao, we can’t....” 

“What happened to hoping that we would have this discussion someday? Please don’t tell me that time in the kitchen to think has led to some kind of Peter Parker, “Friendship is all I can offer you because I’m afraid you’ll be a target” kind of moment. Because if so, I may have to hit you with my shoe.” 

“It’s not that... not entirely.” Aoshi let out a long breath. “I won’t deny that the thought of you being made a target was... is... something that I find extremely hard to face. You shouldn’t have to worry about things like that. However.... that’s not the real reason. Misao, you can do better than being with someone like me. You deserve better.”

“Have you _seen_ the human dating market recently?” Her tone was mildly amused, but her expression remained serious. “I dated a corporate lawyer once. Why should a demon be a problem?”

There was no warning; Aoshi moved quicker than her eyes could follow and Misao found herself pinned against the window, Aoshi looking down at her with a fierce and foreboding expression, his mouth twisted into something like a snarl, fangs once again clearly visible.

“This is not a matter for joking,” he said coldly, biting off the words, “You should leave and not look back, Misao. This is not the relationship you want.”

Fire kindled in her eyes as she glared up at him. “Listen, you... you... I’ve dated guys who defined the term “toxic bachelor,” all kinds of emotional horrors, and immature to boot, and _you_ ,” she continued, poking him in the chest for emphasis, and ignoring his startled expression, “are not like that. Don’t tell me what I do or do not want, Aoshi!” 

Aoshi let go of her shoulders and stepped away again, and looked her directly in the eyes. “I’m not a hero, Misao. I’ve done things that the human world—that my _own_ world--would find unforgivable. I’ve done things that I find it difficult to forgive myself for. I am not, generally speaking, known for being merciful towards my opponents, or my targets.”

“You protected me,” she said simply. “You didn’t have to--- I know that you didn’t have to—but you did it anyway. You could have gotten yourself out of the way of that first strike and let it hit me; you could have used me as bait; you could have just dropped me on the other side of that car and run off to fight without giving another thought to me. And don’t think that I’m forgetting to give you credit for a perfect romantic evening before that incident in the garage, either. That still counts, you know.”

Since Aoshi didn’t quite seem to know how to respond to what she had said, Misao decided to keep going.

“You know, I don’t usually tackle men I’ve just met in dark nightclubs,” she remarked, “You can ask any of my friends. Not to mention the fact that just seeing you struck me completely speechless, which, by the way, shocked them more than finding out that you’re a demon would. Well, probably. The _point_ is that seeing you... the moment I saw you... it was like every single romantic cliché I’d ever heard made sense, and I _knew_... I knew that there would never be anybody else... and... .and that if you left I would follow you for as long as it took to find you again, no matter what. If you asked me why, or how it happened... I could list things about you until the sun came up, but I’m still not sure that would explain things completely. It just... it just _is_.”

The tall man standing across from her was looking at her with his eyes wide, and if she hadn’t been so earnest in her attempts to convince him, Misao would have giggled at how poleaxed his expression was. As it was, she merely stepped closer to him, putting her hand on his upper arm as if she was afraid she would startle him, and softly said, “Aoshi.... if it wasn’t like that for you.... I don’t mean to be putting pressure on you. But I want you to understand that I’m not afraid of what you are, or where we’re going with this. I’d rather be going wherever it is with you than be here by myself just because you’ve decided it’s safer for me.”

“Misao...” His voice was a mere breath of sound as she let herself lean against him. Slowly, almost hesitantly, he let his arms come up to encircle her, as if she was going to vanish if he moved too quickly. She knew exactly how he felt; she felt the same way as she reached up and wrapped her arms around his neck.

They stood there, simply holding one another, for several long moments. Then Misao leaned back slightly so that she could look up into his eyes, and said with a faintly mischievous smile, “You know, I think that I would still like that coffee.”

Aoshi’s brow furrowed in confusion, and he blinked. “Oh... I... alright; we can...” As he spoke, he moved to let go of her, and blinked again when Misao’s response was to tighten her arms, pulling him down towards her, so that she could brush her lips against his throat and then press herself against him as she stood slightly on tiptoe.

“Who on earth,” she purred against his ear, “said anything about having coffee right now?”

It took several seconds for Misao’s words to register with him, time that she happily used to nibble his earlobe and run her hands across his chest. She could tell exactly when he made the connection, because his heart suddenly beat faster as his arms tightened around her. Pulling back slightly, she grinned at the expression on his face, the light kindling in his eyes. Before she could kiss him the way that she wanted to, Aoshi had bent his head to claim her lips with his own, and was once again making her melt in his arms, this time with an eagerness that made her feel faintly dizzy. His arms were the only things holding her up as he bent his head to keep kissing her.

There was heat streaking along all of her nerves, the movement of his body against hers making her need to be closer. She eagerly began to unbutton his shirt, making a faint happy noise in the back of her throat as she realized that Aoshi had never re-buttoned it after the garage. That meant that it took very little time for her to finish the task and begin exploring the texture of his skin, the warmth of him under her hands. He made another one of those low noises as he moved down to her neck, his hands tangling in her hair and destroying the careful arrangement so that it tumbled down around her. 

Misao was so caught up in the feel of his mouth against her skin that she almost missed the faint noise of her zipper being undone, and she jumped slightly at the feel of cool air against her back. Aoshi’s hands traced her down her spine and then back up to gently pull on the sleeves. It was almost automatic for her to move her arms to help him, although she pouted slightly at having to stop touching him, no matter how briefly. On the other hand, she had to give him credit for an excellent idea, and immediately began wrestling him out of his own sleeves. It was slightly awkward to coordinate their efforts, but they managed, and her dress fell to the ground almost at the same moment as she finally managed to get his shirt free of his arms. She stepped free of the pool of fabric and looked up at Aoshi.

The sight of him standing there in the light coming in from the window made her stare momentarily. Then she caught sight of his expression as he gazed at her, his eyes traveling slowly upwards from her feet, absorbing every detail of the woman standing in front of him.

When he finally reached her face, the breath caught in the back of her throat at the look in his eyes, the evident hunger that burned into her and shook her, erasing all thought except for a vague and inconsequential brief moment of thankfulness for her purchases that afternoon. Then she was in his arms again, and all she could feel was his skin against hers, the way that his mouth was making her back arch as she clutched at him reflexively. She could feel the wicked curve of his smile against her skin at the noises she was making, and renewed the explorations of her own hands.

She kissed whatever parts of him she could reach, reveling in the taste of his skin and the way she could make him respond as much as she was reveling in what he was doing to her. When she reached to unbutton his pants, however, he went still and stepped back slightly. Her hands dropped to her side as she tilted her head inquiringly. 

“Misao....” Aoshi murmured, hesitating and brushing her bangs back from her face with one careful hand that she wouldn’t have sworn wasn’t shaking slightly, “Are you... are you sure, Misao?”

It took some effort, but she managed not to roll her eyes. Instead, leaning forward, Misao kissed him lightly on the lips, then proceeded to map a path along his jaw. Smiling against his skin at the way his breath caught, she said between kisses, “Aoshi... dearest Aoshi... please shut up.”

She couldn’t see his smile, but she could picture it, could almost sense it echoing through her as he pulled her close, could feel the curve of his lips as he kissed her and lifted her easily against him. Her own smile was a reflection of it as she wrapped herself around him and let him carry her, trusting in his strength, in him, and in what was between them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Chapter: The author finally gives Kaoru some time to think through recent events. Kaoru promptly tries to exchange it for a one-way ticket to the Bahamas.  
> Author’s Note: In this chapter, I borrowed the Owls, who Houji sends to attack the Aoiya in order to force Okina and the others to reveal where Battousai has gotten to (It’s the attack that leads to my favorite Okina line ever, “Not a very experienced ninja, are you boy?” I also like the way that Aoshi is clearly proud of the Oniwabanshuu and their ability to defeat the Owls even though he’s technically on the opposite side). I also took Okina’s real name, Nenji Kashiwazaki, as the name of the company Misao is interning with. Italian meals traditionally consist of the antipasti, then a first course (pasta or rice or soup), a second course (meat or fish) which usually has vegetable side dishes with it, then a salad, then dessert. I think that I got it right in this chapter, but if anybody notices errors, feel free to point them out.  
> In this chapter I don’t own: Apple juice and mineral water, because I drank them. But I shall acquire more! Bwa ha ha! I also don’t own the first Spiderman movie—and haven’t even seen the second one yet, shockingly enough. Nor do I own the “toxic bachelor” concept from “Sex and the City.” Or the moment in “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” where Forest laments to Riley that in spite of the fact that they’re both secret government soldiers they are forced to Clark Kent their way through the dating scene. And, finally, I don’t own the lovely song “A Nightingale Sang in Berkley Square,” by Manning Sherwin and Eric Maschwitz, from which I took the title. The song starts “That certain night; the night we met/ There was magic abroad in the air... There were angels dining at the Ritz, and a nightingale sang in Berkley Square...”. No actual angels, and they met the night before... but it’s still a great line and lovely sentiment for Aoshi and Misao’s first date.


	21. Game and Match

Having to sneak into the building where she lived was a new experience for Kaoru. She wasn’t sure if Kenshin would have returned yet from whatever errand he’d gotten called on. For all she knew, he’d made up the errand and faked a telephone call so that he could be waiting for her in her apartment, where he probably would have cooked her dinner and done other things that undoubtedly had some devious and evil motivation behind them. 

In the past forty-eight hours, Kaoru had been danced with, kidnapped, and rescued essentially by being kidnapped again. She had faced horror, violence, and insanity, she had dealt with swords and socks, and she had managed to survive an afternoon shopping with her friends after they had been convinced that she now had a boyfriend. 

What she wanted right now was time in her apartment, by herself, to think about these various and sundry events and try to put them into some kind of logical order, which she could then use to plan her next steps. 

There was no sign of Kenshin’s car in the parking lot, and Kaoru breathed a sigh of relief as she made sure her emergency spare car key was back in its hidden box. In her heedless flight out of his apartment and down the stairs, she hadn’t even paid attention to which floor he lived on, but as she exited the stairs a familiar-looking water stain caught her attention. 

Blinking, Kaoru found herself momentarily frozen before she started to laugh. 

_‘Of course... of course Kenshin would pick an apartment on the floor of his stalkee. I can just imagine him going into the office and saying, “Hey, do you have anything free on the fourth floor in that third building from the left? Well, don’t worry; I’m sure one of the tenants is bound to have an unfortunate accident any day now...”_ ’ 

When she entered her apartment, she moved cautiously, looking from left to right for signs of anything out of the ordinary, any kind of illicit or supernatural activity. 

The utter chaos in her living room was just the result of Misao’s attempts to make her presentable for their club outing; the papers on her desk were equal parts work-related and demon-destroying notes. Other than that, everything seemed perfectly neat and normal. 

Letting out the breath she’d been holding, Kaoru put down her purse and took her jacket off. She took the groceries she’d purchased on her way home into the kitchen, stuck the grape juice in the fridge and the Rocky Road in the freezer, and turned the oven up to the correct temperature for the frozen pizza she’d picked up. 

Everything on the coffee table and the couch was picked up in one fell swoop and bundled off to the bedroom. She would deal with sorting things out later. Right now she needed the space to stretch out and take notes. 

Once she had the pizza in the oven, she got the relevant notebooks from over on her desk and reclined on the couch. She read through her demon-related notes and crossed out things that weren’t going to be relevant now that Kenshin had his sword back. 

Suddenly, Kaoru sat bolt upright as a realization struck her. 

Kenshin had his sword back... and she had no idea where he was. For all she knew, he could have left town now that he’d gotten what he wanted; he could be out killing people right at that moment 

_‘Stupid, stupid, stupid; I should have taken that sword and chucked it into the river the minute he showed up again; I should have booby-trapped it with... with... well, I don’t know what, but I’ll bet I could have found things in the chem lab at school... how am I going to stop him now, if he decides it’s time for another massacre?’_

Taking several deep breaths, Kaoru managed to get her thoughts back into something resembling logical order. Kenshin could have left immediately after he’d gotten his sword; she’d been over that one already. He didn’t have to come and rescue her, although the fact that he’d clearly had a personal grudge against Jineh made a difference... 

Something was hovering just on the edges of her awareness, something she’d heard at the factory, but she couldn’t quite bring it into mental focus. Every time she tried to think about what had happened there, her brain insisted on bringing up images of shadows and blood and the clashing of swords, playing them back like a film, but without any of the words. 

_“Oh, sure, Technicolor but no sound... just my luck,’_ Kaoru thought as she tapped her pen against the notepad. _‘Ignoring everything that was just me talking things through with myself... was it something Jineh said or something that Kenshin said? Did Jineh say anything that wasn’t creepy smalltalk and psycho threats?’_

The oven buzzer normally didn’t make Kaoru start, fall of the couch, and then swear loudly. On the other hand, it usually didn’t interrupt attempts to remember important demon-related information that might save her life and the lives of her friends. 

She cut the pizza into slices with more vigor than normal, glaring at the pepperoni as if it was responsible for her current predicament. It took two slices and a glass of root beer before she was able to calm down enough to pull out her notebook again and re-attempt to remember what she had overheard. 

Fortunately, Kaoru was perfectly capable of chewing and thinking at the same time. 

_“Come on, Kamiya; this can’t be that difficult. You’ve done more difficult things, some of which weren’t even in any way connected to Kenshin. All you need to do is take a deep breath or three, and put your thoughts in order...’_

_‘Order...’_

Kaoru swore she heard the audible click of a light bulb going on over her head as she suddenly remembered... 

_“Ah, ah, ah, Battousai...you know that your orders were to take me alive...”_

_“Do you honestly think I in any way care what my orders might have been?”_

Jineh’s gleeful taunt. Kenshin’s coldly disdainful response. 

And both of them had mentioned orders. 

Kenshin had been acting under orders... well, she amended, Kenshin had apparently been completely ignoring his orders, but that didn’t change the fact that he’d clearly _had_ some. 

Orders meant that there had to be somebody, someplace, who was _giving_ the orders. 

Kaoru turned that idea around in her head and looked at it from every angle she could think of, trying to find a way she could have been wrong. Assuming that she’d heard correctly—and since both Jineh and Kenshin had talked about Kenshin’s orders as a given thing, she probably had—then her problems might be a lot bigger than just one random demon who had a sword and wasn’t afraid to use it. 

_‘Oh, boy... not good, not good... polar opposite of good, with a side order of reasons to just go hide in my closet for about a week.....’_

If Kenshin had had orders about Jineh... did that mean that he’d had orders in high school as well? Was that why his time there had been “I came, I saw, I sliced?” Had he been following whatever orders he might have had, or had he been ignoring them, the way that he had done with Jineh?

Why would a demon have gotten orders about a bunch of high school kids? 

_‘Don’t go jumping to conclusions, Kaoru,’_ she thought to herself, _‘He could have just been slaughtering in his spare time... maybe he was on vacation... do demons get vacations?’_

Sighing, Kaoru reminded herself that whether Kenshin had been acting on his own or not back then wasn’t the vital issue; the important thing was that now she knew that he wasn’t simply acting on his own all the time. It wasn’t shiny happy news, but it was definitely important, and she would have to take it into account. Because the last thing she needed was to end up with more demonic stalker-type problems. 

She still hadn’t figured out what category to put Aoshi in. 

The immediate issue on the agenda continued to be Kenshin and his newly re-acquired sword. And, she grudgingly admitted to herself, possibly certain other aspects of his behavior. Everything that had happened at the mall... well, possibly not the bit in the dressing room where she’d been alone... but anything that had happened when her friends were around was clearly punishing her for leaving. Which still left the incident in the dressing room, the incident at his apartment, and, well, the fact that she had woken up that morning to a demon who could best be described as “snuggly.” 

If that kind of behavior was still going on even after Kenshin had gotten his sword back... 

Kaoru swallowed hard. 

If that kind of behavior was still going on even after Kenshin had gotten his sword back... 

...then maybe... 

She really, _really_ didn’t want to finish that sentence. Finishing that sentence seemed like the sort of thing that would open doors that couldn’t be closed again. It was already treading perilously close to some territory she didn’t want to get near. 

For example, Kaoru had been working very hard not to think about the specifics of how she had broken Jineh’s spell. It didn’t matter how much she told herself that it could have been somebody else there, that it could have been her father or brother or anybody she knew well... the fact remained that it had been thinking about _Kenshin_ that had enabled her to break the spell. And not just about Kenshin as he had been recently, but Kenshin as he had been back in high school. 

_‘Oh, come on; you already admitted that you were... that when he was kissing you... that it was all about hormones, and... and... that it would have been the same with anybody!_

_Now you just have to admit that you were lying about the “anybody” part...’_

Closing her eyes, Kaoru took a deep breath through her nose. No. No. Absolutely not. There was no way that she could be... 

_‘He’s a demon! He KILLS people! Granted, in the one instance where you saw him, they were excessively annoying people, but that’s not the point. Just because he’s good-looking, and an amazingly good kisser, and has done occasional nice and not even creepy things, like bringing lunch, or giving you a ride.... Kaoru Kamiya, you CANNOT be attracted to him. No, no, no. Put that idea down and back away slowly. Do not pass go, do not collect two hundred dollars...’_

It was a good thing that she had a match scheduled with Yahiko for the next afternoon; she had a feeling she was really going to need serious stress relief. 

Carrying the pizza box and her glass back into the kitchen, Kaoru spent several minutes concentrating on mundane tasks like packing up the pizza, rinsing her glass, and putting it into the dishwasher. 

Then she got her spare bokken out, moved the furniture in the living room back, and ran through a full set of katas in an attempt to clear her mind. 

_Swing_

Kenshin’s getting his sword back hadn’t changed his behavior towards her.

_Swing_

Well, unless you counted the fact that he seemed even less willing to leave her alone.

_Swing_.

If it had been anybody else, then Kaoru would have said that what he wanted...

_Swing_

... she would have said that what Kenshin wanted wasn’t necessarily his sword, it was...

_Swing_

... it was her.

Kaoru’s bokken halted mid-swing and she tried to get her breath back from where it had caught in her throat.

Misao’s voice echoed in her memory, “ _Kaoru! Kaoru, did you see that? He looked right at you!... Either way, one of you was definitely noticing.”_

_‘It’s not possible,’_ Kaoru thought, almost frantically, _‘It’s NOT... there’s no way he’s interested in me; I mean, I killed him, for one thing, and I’m not exactly the sort of girl that... I mean, what on earth could he possibly see in somebody like me... not to keep harping on it, but I KILLED him, and he can’t not know that I’ve been trying to figure out ways to do it again, no matter how attractive I might... I might...’_

_‘Oh, crap.’_

Breaking out of her position, Kaoru slumped onto the couch.

Well, there it was. She had finally admitted it to herself. She, Kaoru Kamiya, was strongly attracted to a demon, one who she’d actually witnessed killing her high school classmates, one whose capacity for bloodshed she’d seen yet again when he’d been busy chopping Jineh up in the warehouse. She wasn’t even entirely sure that she could blame it all on some kind of purely physical attraction, as much as she really, really wanted to. It would have been much easier to say that it was nothing more than the way that Kenshin kissed, or the way that his arms had felt around her, or way his mouth and his teeth had felt on her neck.

Kaoru realized that she was blushing fiercely and frowned at herself. 

_‘Ok, I think we can just take Kenshin’s physical attractiveness as a given, and move on to the next item on the agenda!’_ she remonstrated with herself.

_‘What else is it about him, and how can I figure out a way to not be affected by it... well... he was worried about me getting to school and back safely; good. He then stole my bike so that I would have to get a ride from him and then buy a car earlier than I wanted to; bad. He rescued me from a horrible situation, brought me safely back to his apartment, and didn’t try anything while I was unconscious, no matter how much he seems to enjoy trying things when I’m awake... definitely good. He made waffles; good. He chased me down and did horribly embarrassing things in front of my friends, acting like I belonged to him or something... which... well, is both bad and inaccurate. And presumptuous. And annoying. And not true. Which I kind of already said. Great; I’m repeating myself. And I’m saying things more than once.’_

This really wasn’t helping her to get her disordered thoughts under better control. In fact, the more she let her thoughts run along those lines, the more confused Kaoru found herself getting. It was one thing to make herself admit that she was attracted to a demon, and to admit that it looked like the demon in question was attracted to her. However, that was really as far as she seemed to be able to get. She had no idea what to do next. Flee? Barricade herself into her apartment? Slip a note under Kenshin’s door saying, “Do you like me? Check [ ] yes [ ] no” ?”

_‘This is clearly a complicated issue, and one that I need to sleep on and think about more tomorrow, after the match with Yahiko has helped me focus. Focus is always good.’_

Walking back over to where she’d put her notebook, Kaoru had to admit that the results of the evening’s deliberations were inconclusive at best. In fact, she wasn’t sure that she didn’t have more questions now than she had had in the first place.

Sleep was looking like a good option. A good night’s sleep and a good sparring match; that would make everything better. Somehow.

* * *

Kaoru sat bolt upright in bed, her heart pounding, her breath coming in short, panicked bursts, the nightmare still clinging to her mind.

It had started out innocuously enough, a bizarre mix of her current teaching assignment with her high school days, where she was trying to deliver a very important lecture on Newton and apples and gravity to a classroom full of bored jocks and cheerleaders who were loudly popping bubble gum. Mr. Fujita had been sitting by the windowsill, chain-smoking and making occasional comments about her lecture style and wardrobe choices. She had turned around to write something on the blackboard, but there hadn’t been any chalk, and when she’d turned to inform Mr. Fujita...

... the students had been paying even less attention than before, although she supposed she couldn’t blame them... it was hard to get interested in Newtonian physics when you had to worry about things like what had happened to your other arm, or the way that the blood pouring from your throat was making a mess of all your notes, and clearly you couldn’t be expected to take notes in the first place if your eyes had been reduced to empty, bleeding sockets...

Her voice hadn’t seemed to be working as she stared at the figures in front of her, some of whom were mercifully slumped and unmoving, but some of whom were still mechanically attempting to write things down, disregarding the blood spilling with every jerking movement they made.

“Well, don’t just stand there, Ms Kamiya! If you’re out of chalk, go to the factory and get some!” Mr. Fujita had snapped, and, even though part of Kaoru’s mind had been screaming that she really didn’t think that that was a good idea, she had suddenly found herself in a long hallway, where the lockers had mutated into something rusted and industrial, gears grinding somewhere in the background, unseen doors creaking as the lights flickered on and off. She could hear other noises in the background, somewhere behind her...

...the steady, even tread of someone who knows that their prey isn’t going to be able to escape, no matter how quickly it runs, and a noise like a sword being dragged, excruciatingly slowly, across a floor...

She’d run, but it had been that horrible kind of running that happens in dreams, the kind where your feet felt caught in tar, where you somehow knew that you were making no progress forwards. And as the sounds from behind kept getting closer and closer, she’d looked down to see that what felt like tar was flowing red and sticky around her ankles, a tide that was rising even as she looked at it, and then there had been a flash of silver in the darkness, a sharp edge heading towards her in ridiculously slow motion, so that she leaned out of the way of the amber-sparking edge, and found herself falling, arms windmilling wildly in a way that she knew looked ridiculous, but it didn’t matter, because it wasn’t helping, and she was falling into that redness that was clinging to her feet and ankles and...

And then she’d woken up, disoriented and gasping for breath, confused by the darkness surrounding her until she’d caught sight of the glowing green of her clock.

_‘At least I didn’t pick a glowing red clock.... glowing red would have been freaky right about now...’_ Kaoru thought as she finally got her breathing back under control. _‘Oh, for... that can’t possibly be the correct time...’_

She winced. An hour and a half before her alarm went off; she _hated_ when that happened. Not enough time to get any really satisfying sleep, and still too early to drag herself out of bed. Resolutely closing her eyes, Kaoru decided to at least try to get some sleep. 

_‘Hydrogen, helium, lithium; beryllium, boron, carbon...’_ she recited to herself, her own version of counting sheep. Tonight it took longer than usual; her mind was slow to fall into the familiar comforting rhythm. Somewhere between gadolinium and radium, she fell into an uneasy doze that lasted until the buzz of the alarm startled her awake again.

Bleary-eyed, Kaoru stumbled through her morning routine for Sundays. After a quick breakfast, centered around coffee, with a side of coffee, she headed to the bathroom to shower. First, she removed the bandages on her wrists, not wanting to wear them under the water. Even in her half-awake state, she found herself blinking once the bandages were off. Instead of the angry-looking scratches and abrasions she’d seen only the day before, her wrists looked almost entirely healed. True, there were faint pink lines, and she could see the traces of her injuries if she squinted, but overall, nobody looking at her would have been able to tell that she’d ever been forced to try to free herself from being tied up by a madman who wanted to kill her after he...

_‘Not thinking about that right now; brand new day, full of shiny, happy whistle-while-you-pound-your-brother-into-the-ground-type thoughts... and some understandable wondering what on earth was in that jar of goop Kenshin put onto my wrists.. Megumi would kill for something like that... hmm... there’s a thought... tell Megumi about it, and then sic her on Kenshin...”_

She turned the shower up high enough to steam the mirror in less than five seconds and just stood underneath the water until it had helped dissipate the tension too little sleep always left between her shoulder blades. 

The sweet scent of her jasmine bodywash helped wake her up even further and she sighed in satisfaction as it helped dispel the last lingering traces of her nightmare. By the time she got out, she was reasonably awake and the cobwebs had cleared from her brain. True, her fingers looked like big pink raisins, but she felt a lot better. She wrapped herself in her bathrobe and went to brush her hair in front of the mirror, and then stopped, eyes wide, as she caught sight of her own reflection.

The bruised marks at the base of her throat, dusted across her collarbone, were a match for the one she’d found on her wrist, and were quite clearly the result of Kenshin’s activities in the dressing room the day before. Her immediate reaction was to slap her hand over the marks and close her eyes with a panicked squeak, as if that would make them go away or erase them from existence. Unfortunately, when she peeled her fingers back and let herself take a cautious peek out of one eye, they were still there. 

_‘I... he... that’s...oh, my God...’_ If there had been any fog left in Kaoru’s brain, it would have been blown away by the sheer shock she was feeling, and any memory of her nightmare was dispersed by the sudden memory of Kenshin’s words the day that he had moved into the building...

_“Did... something happen to your neck?”_

_“Pity... well, maybe next time, then...”_

_‘I guess that he meant it...’_ was the first collected thought that she could put together. _‘He really, really.... I really need to have a chair in here for this sort of occasion, because collapsing onto the floor is probably going to be uncomfortable... yup, definitely uncomfortable...and the situation doesn’t look any better from down here either, imagine that...I wonder if I can pretend this was an allergic reaction to my own cooking... that sounds believable... Yahiko would definitely... oh, no, sparring match; little brother, seeing these.... oh, dear Lord in heaven...’_

Standing back up, Kaoru found that she was relieved to have a practical task to focus on. Especially after her mental debate the previous night, she did not feel up to deciphering her reaction to clear and visible reminders of how Kenshin had behaved, not when she could practically still feel the heat of his mouth on her skin whenever she looked at them. Concentrating instead on avoiding massive embarrassment that afternoon, she stalked to her bedroom and dug through her scarf drawer, then paused as she held up a long rectangle of turquoise silk.

_‘And how exactly are you going to explain wearing a scarf with your practice clothes, hmm? Doesn’t exactly match, does it... and make-up would run, even if you had any foundation thick enough... guess I’ll just have to fasten my gi really high... maybe I can pin it. That should work. I hope. Other than that... high collars and scarves for the next several days. And no more dressing rooms for the foreseeable future....’_

For the rest of the morning, Kaoru puttered and cleaned and avoided looking at mirrors. Lunch, like all meals Kaoru cooked for herself, was fairly simple. She boiled water for tortellini, heated some tomato sauce, and made herself a salad. Over lunch, she read parts of the paper, and started working on the crossword puzzle over a cup of coffee and some chocolate from her emergency “Wake up and deal with whatever it is” stash.

Once the dishes were washed, Kaoru was ready to head back over to the dojo. She frowned as she headed down the stairs again. This was one situation where driving instead of biking was supremely annoying. The bike ride back to the dojo would have been a nice warm-up, a way to get her muscles loose before the sparring match. As it was, she was going to have to leave early just to give herself time to do an extra set of warm-up katas before the match.

One more thing she could find to be annoyed with Kenshin about this morning. Unfortunately, just when she was prepared to be memorably and effectively snappish, the idiot refused to be lurking anywhere in the vicinity.

As she opened the door to her car, she wondered if it was hypocritical of her to be annoyed with him for not lurking just when she wished he would.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Chapter: Stress. Relief.
> 
> Author’s note: --looks at definite lack of red-headed demons in this chapter and hides under the nearest table from irate readers-- Um.... at least Kaoru has finally recognized that it’s not all about the sword? And that she is attracted to Kenshin? That’s good, right? Right? –decides to stay under the table for a while--.
> 
> And, a special note about Misao (which I should have included in that chapter where I was in too much of a hurry to include any real Author’s Note or Reviewer Responses): Several people have mentioned, at one point or another, that.. well... I seem to be making Misao the one who is tackling a random high school boyfriend in the library, and making comments about pool tables or Kaoru’s virginity, plus, of course, pouncing Aoshi in the nightclub pretty much the minute she sees him, etc. Erk. Two things: First, if it had been anybody else, Misao wouldn’t have pounced them in the nightclub; that was Aoshi-specific. In fact, if you look at the flashback, right after Misao has kissed him, she has a moment of panicked “Oh-my-God-he’s-going-to-think-I’m-a-slut; I’ve totally screwed this up, I’m such an IDIOT!” before he kisses her back. As she says in the last chapter, she sees him and she knows that he’s The One (which seemed very Misao and Aoshi for me—single-minded determination and conviction on her part). Second... well, ok, see, the very first time we meet Canon Misao, she’s using the promise of easy sex to lure a bunch of idiot small-town Yakuza into the woods so that she can use her mad kempo kick skillz to knock them into oblivion and then rob them. And, from her line about “Men are born suckers,” you can pretty much tell that it’s not the first time in her wanderings around Japan that she’s used that trick, or some variation thereof. Imagine the Tanuki trying that sort of thing! (and then imagine Aoshi finding out that Misao used to finance her quest to find him using that kind of method) Given that, it seemed to make a lot of sense to make Misao.. well, worldlier than Kaoru in some respects, even though she’s still a year younger. 
> 
> In this chapter I don’t own: Technicolor (hey, it’s a trademark!), the periodic table of the elements. I also don’t own the “Schoolhouse Rock” song “A Victim of Gravity,” although I was definitely thinking about it when I mentioned Isaac Newton, the apple tree, and gravity, and if I have to have “Schoolhouse Rock” songs stuck in my head all day, (Conjunction junction, what’s your function?) I figured I might as well pass that along.


	22. Unresting Thought

After years of experience, he had come to the realization that knowing your adversary was the most important thing. If you forgot that, he knew, you were likely to find yourself in difficult—even dangerous—situations. Like running down the street half-naked, trying to avoid serious bodily injury by a pair of high heels being thrown and/or brandished by an enraged once-and-future girlfriend....

Peering cautiously around the corner and along the hospital corridor, Sanosuke Sagara located his target and planned his approach. 

Megumi was deep in consultation with two other doctors that he vaguely remembered having been introduced to at the last Christmas party. He didn’t want to interrupt them, so he waited until the group broke up and Megumi headed down the hallway. Ducking out of sight, Sano carefully listened for her careful, even tread, preparing for the moment when Megumi reached the intersection. Then, he pounced.

Megumi let out a short yelp as he pulled her into his arms. Before she could react, he kissed her and then stepped back, leaving his arm around her shoulder as he cheerfully said, “Afternoon, beautiful. Miss me?” 

“ _How_ many times have I told you _not_ to do that when I’m at work?” she demanded, brandishing her clipboard threateningly in response to his cheeky grin. 

“Yeah, I know, but I just love seeing that flash in your eyes. Can’t resist.” 

Even though she knew that glaring at him would only encourage him, Megumi couldn’t help it. She did try to limit herself to one quick glare before she pulled herself back into her normal cool composure. 

“What are you doing here, Sano? Other than annoying me?” 

‘Wanted to see how you were doing. Got your message about having to work an extra shift, and so I figured I’d stop in while I was around and see how things were going.” 

The young doctor sighed, and Sano could see the faint dark smudges under her eyes from a long night’s work. “Things are a bit more settled now, but... there was a bad traffic accident over on the west side of town. Multi-car pile-up, with the added bonus of trees and/or telephone poles....” 

Sano responded by tightening his arm around her in a quick half-hug. He knew how tough situations like that were on her, and it sounded like this one might have been particularly bad. 

“Survivors?” he asked, more to learn how much Megumi was going to have to deal with emotionally than anything else. 

“No,” she said softly. She let herself lean against him for a long moment, resting her head and just breathing before she continued. “The police said that it looks like there were two vanloads of guys heading back from some sports thing, mostly drunk, and the idiot who was driving the van in front was yelling at somebody on his cell phone while driving down the street like a maniac. Add a red light that he clearly didn’t see, and some poor guy just trying to make his usual Sunday delivery to the restaurant he works at...” Megumi trailed off and sighed. 

“Jeez, I’m sorry, Meg. I know how rough that can get. Look, I came by to tell you that when you’re done, just head over to my place and I’ll take care of dinner and everything.” 

Megumi turned to face him and raised one eyebrow skeptically. “And the dog? You know that I will not enter your apartment while that... that... slobbering, oversized, shoe-eating, hair-shedding menace is in the building.”

“Ah, you know he just likes you.” Sano said cheerfully. “Misao is picking Angel Marie up tomorrow...” Seeing the thunderclouds gathering in her expression, he hastily finished, “from Katsu’s place.” 

Her eyebrows rose and she asked, “From _Katsu’s_ place? How did you manage that one?” 

“Called in a favor. So, foxy lady of mine, any idea when I might expect you?” 

“I should be able to get out of here at five, maybe five thirty.... can’t say exactly.” 

“Well, just call before you leave, and I’ll have everything ready. Bath, dinner, you name it. Katsu’s got the bar tonight, so I’m all yours.” 

This time, Megumi was the one who kissed him, not caring that they were still in the hospital corridor. She gave him one of the brilliant smiles that always made him forget everything else and said, “I will call, I will be there, and thank you. Now get going, Rooster; some of us have actual work to do.” 

Sano grinned back and hugged her once more before he let her head back to work, keeping his arm around her shoulder for a few seconds longer, until they had rounded the corner and several other doctors were in sight. 

Then, just because he liked to live dangerously, he let his arm slip down towards her waist and patted her on the bottom before he turned to head out the door. 

The chance to see that flash in her eyes got him every time....

* * *

The nice weather made Kaoru more morose about her current lack of a bike, especially since there had apparently been an accident that meant she had to detour several blocks and then circle back around to the dojo. Fortunately, by the time she got home, she had managed to shift her focus to the match. She changed clothes in her room, making sure that the neckline of her gi was as high and secure as she could make it. To her mild surprise, it actually seemed to work. Uttering a small prayer of thanksgiving to the clothing gods, she headed over to the dojo. Yahiko was sweeping the porch of the dojo buildings when she walked over to that part of the house after saying a quick hello to their father where he sat going over the monthly accounts. 

“Well, brat, ready to get pounded on?” Kaoru greeted him cheerfully, her bokken casually resting on one shoulder next to the strap of her duffel bag. 

Her brother snorted at her. “Yeah, right, ugly. Hey, aren’t you here early?” 

“Need to warm up,” she replied as she went in, “Don’t have a bike anymore, remember?” 

Yahiko shook his head in mock admonition, “My own sister, just another contributor to the air pollution plaguing our fair city. The trees are clearly crying out for revenge, and I am more than happy to help them!” 

“Tell me, o noble defender of nature, what exactly is your bokken made of again?” 

“Ah.. um... it was a willing sacrifice for the greater cause!” 

“In spite of that, my heart remains unmoved, and you are still going to get pounded on,” Kaoru replied sweetly. “Just give me a half-hour to warm up, and then prepare to meet your fate.” 

As always, running through her katas helped to clear her mind and bring much-needed focus. Here in the dojo, it was much easier than it had been in her living room, all of her memories of previous matches and training sessions permeating the room and giving her clarity. When she had her bokken in her hands and was training or fighting here, the world outside of the hall fell away and didn’t matter. That was something she and Yahiko had both learned from their father. Today she was especially grateful for it. She appreciated having the structure to fall back on, the patterns of movement that stretched as far back into her childhood as she could remember, before demons and assorted other complications had entered her life. 

“Hey! Ready for our match!” Yahiko called out as he entered the hall. 

Shaking her arms out and rotating her neck, Kaoru turned and gave him a broad grin. “You better believe it!” 

_‘This is just what I needed today,’_ Kaoru thought with satisfaction as she began moving around the floor. _‘After the last two nights...’_

The memories were lurking, but she kept them safely caged, devoting her focus to the present, to the match, the way her opponent moved and struck, the patterns of her own feet and the way her bokken felt like an extension of herself. 

After years of sparring with each other, the two siblings knew each other’s patterns as well as their own, easily moving into the fluid dance of their family style, move and counter-move, the bokkens clacking against each other in the rhythm of the match. Yahiko had almost reached the rank of Assistant Master, and was responsible for several of the beginner’s classes, so it was reasonably even. As they fought, Kaoru could appreciate the confidence that he’d acquired over the past few years, the way that he had matured from the boy who would throw himself into a sparring match with her with no consideration of technique or thought of anything beyond pounding his opponent into the ground. 

She grinned to herself. That meant that she didn’t have to have any qualms whatsoever about not holding back. 

Noticing an opening, she struck and raised an eyebrow as Yahiko yelped as he ducked out of the way. 

“Doing alright?” she inquired 

“I’m fine!” he replied, glaring slightly as he moved to his next attack. 

“Glad to hear it!” Kaoru replied, moving her own bokken into position. 

_...the weight of the pipe in her hand as she stood, tense, guarding herself as much as she could..._

Her smile dimmed for a brief moment. 

_‘Dammit! I will not get distracted by this, I will NOT!_ ’Kaoru thought fiercely, continuing the motions of the fight. 

Her bokken connected with Yahiko’s, sending slight shocks up her arms. 

_‘Grip, Kaoru, you are not ten anymore; pay attention to your grip!’_ Her anger with herself was real. Their father had raised them to focus on kendo when they were in the hall and sparring, not... 

_....blood splattering across the floor as the sock connected...._

Her block of the next stroke was automatic, pure reflex honed over years of practice and tournaments. On the plus side, she noted almost absently that she had in fact managed to correct her grip in spite of her momentary distraction. Yahiko, fortunately, didn’t seem to notice. 

Kaoru tried to focus on her breathing, her footwork, the hold she had on her bokken, the way that the sunlight fell on the floor. 

_‘It’s daytime. It’s sunny, and it’s daytime, and it’s home... ‘_ she repeated as she continued to spar, turning it into a litany in her mind to keep herself in the present. 

Not two nights ago. 

Not in a cold factory where the wind whistled through broken windows and grinning figures with insane red eyes waited to grab and slash and... 

_‘DAMMIT!’_

She almost expected one of their bokkens to shatter with the force of contact as she swung. _‘Good thing Dad makes sure to get quality equipment...and made us learn Kamiya Kasshin Ryu so well that neither rain nor snow nor sleet nor horrible demony memories could keep us from using it...’_

Kaoru hoped that Yahiko wasn’t picking up on her distraction, because he would be sure to take advantage of it and also since she knew she’d never live it down if she lost after declaring that she was ready to take him on any day of the week. 

_‘More importantly,´_ she thought as she attacked with renewed focus and vigor, _‘I refuse to let my little brother worry about me again! I prefer him to be his usual annoying self, thank you very much...’_

They were both sweating slightly by that point, but it didn’t matter. They gave each other identical grins as their bokkens met, and continued with the match. Neither of them was certain how long they had been sparring; in fact, they barely noticed that their father had come in until he cleared his throat.

“Alright, you two; I have a class in here in another twenty minutes. You can keep going tomorrow if you want to, but right now, Yahiko, you sweep the room out; Kaoru, you go get the equipment from the storeroom.” 

“How come I have to sweep? “ Yahiko asked, his expression a shade away from mulish. 

“Younger apprentice, younger brother, and you didn’t beat me,” Kaoru said, “Besides which, quit complaining; _you_ don’t have to haul all that equipment!” 

“True,” he conceded, “but I still hate sweeping more. Can’t we just switch?”

Clapping him on the shoulder, she replied, “Get over it, broom boy. I had to do it when I was your age, you know.”

She was halfway across the courtyard before Yahiko’s math skills caught up with his brain and he yelled after her, “Hey! Hey! Kao-ru! When _you_ were my age, Dad declared that _I_ was old enough to be trusted with sweeping duties! Aww, man...” 

Kaoru grinned to herself. Sometimes, it was entirely too easy. 

The storage room where the dummies and other equipment was had already been unlocked for the earlier classes, so Kaoru just went in. She looked around as her eyes adjusted to the half-light, watching the dust motes swirl in the sunbeams streaming through the small, high windows. 

... _the patches of moonlight on the floor, darkened where Jineh’s blood had been spattered, his severed hand resting at the edge of..._

She forced herself to take deep breaths, to calm her racing heartbeat. 

_‘I will not let this beat me; I survived the actual event, I’m strong enough to survive remembering it... I got through remembering everything with Battousai in high school, even if it took a long time to stop having nightmares. This isn’t any different. I won’t let this be any different.’_

Kaoru was tempted to deliberately try to carry too much at once, just so that the balancing act of wrestling everything over to the dojo would take all of her concentration. On the other hand, staggering into the training hall with two dummies, spare shinais under her arm, and a couple of different helmets balanced on her head would not only look ridiculous, it would make her brother and father instantly aware that she was trying to cover up something she was worried about. Instead, she concentrated on carrying exactly and precisely the normal amount, carefully, and paying great attention to weight and balance and not letting anything drag, any little detail that would require mental energy. 

“Thank you, Kaoru! If you want to eat here, there are leftovers in the fridge, ok? Yahiko and I are going to have dinner after class, but you don’t have to stay that long,” her father said once she’d brought everything in, pausing in the middle of his warm-up. 

“Leftover what, exactly? Which of you two is responsible for it?” Kaoru asked, one eyebrow raised. As impossible as it sounded, the standard of cooking in the Kamiya household had declined since Kaoru had left to go to college. Neither Yahiko nor their father really cared about food, and they were both so caught up in classes and the business of running the dojo that Kaoru was surprised they remembered to eat regularly at all. 

_‘One of these days, they’re going to discover that astronaut food that just needs to be reconstituted, and I’m going to come home to find the entire kitchen full of those little plastic pouches....’_

“Don’t panic, Sis!” Yahiko said from where he was putting the broom away, “Dad means it’s leftover take-out food. And, yes, from last night. Um... although you might want to double-check, because I think there’s still some stuff in there from last week...” 

Raising one eyebrow, Kaoru asked, “Have either of you ever heard of the concept of, say, cleaning out the fridge? Radical new development, they’ve done studies and everything.” 

“The Kamiya Kasshin school works to encourage the development of potential and independence!” her brother declared, “We feel that when the food is ready to leave the refrigerator, it will do so on its own.” 

“Remind me not to help you when you are overrun by revolting leftovers,” she muttered. 

By the time the class was finished, Kaoru had managed to clean out the refrigerator, label the Chinese food from the night before with the date, and wash the dishes that had collected in the sink. It wasn’t something she would normally have done; normally, she would have just stuck Post-It notes in several prominent locations and trusted to the power of sarcasm, but she was actively looking both for activity and a reason not to go home just yet, and vigorous cleaning always made her feel better anyway. 

_‘Maybe after I go home I’ll scrub out the bathroom...’_ she thought to herself. 

_‘Because if I clean enough and wear myself out enough, I should be able to sleep soundly, right? Exhaustion can be a very useful thing... I learned that last time...’_

Yahiko didn’t pause at all on his rapid dash through the kitchen to hit the showers, but their father slowed when he saw Kaoru, hair tucked back under a scarf, rubber gloves on, humming to herself as she wiped down the counters. 

“Is everything ok, Kaoru?” he asked, “To what do I owe the privilege of getting maid service today?” 

“Um...” _‘Darn it, why does my family have to know me and my habits so well? Stupid involved parenting...’_ “Well, I guess I was looking for a reason not to go home just yet... I mean, I, um, kind of miss you guys, you know? And since I didn’t bring any work of my own, and I didn’t want to just sit around, I decided that it was my sworn duty to protect you from the danger of the evils lurking in the heart of your fridge. I mean, had you _looked_ in there lately, Dad? There was some pizza in there that was about to secede and set up its own independent protectorate, co-ruled with what I think must have been broccoli at some point.” 

“I don’t think we had any broccoli...” he mused thoughtfully, then continued, “Honey, I know it can be tough being on your own for the first time, and you know that you can come back and visit any time that you want to, especially when you feel compelled to clean things. And, if there’s anything else that you want to talk about...” he trailed off. 

_‘Well, let’s see. Demons, and demonic weapons, and being kidnapped, and new uses for socks that I bet you’ve never thought of, and the Waffles of Evil, and friends who now think I have a boyfriend....’_

But she merely grinned and said, “Any idea how I could get my supervisor at school to agree to a unit on smoking prevention?” 

“This is Mr. Fujita? The one who Yahiko says spends every moment not in the classroom in the Teacher’s Lounge smoking like a broken chimney?” 

“That would be the supervisor of whom I speak.” 

“You know, Megumi’s got those slides...” he said. 

Kaoru couldn’t help but giggle. “Oh, trust me, I know. And soon I will figure out a way to put them to good use. Want me to set the table and heat things up while you and Yahiko get clean?” 

“That would be great, sweetie; nice to have you over for dinner once in a while. We miss you too, you know.” And with that, he headed upstairs, wiping his brow off with the towel he had slung over his shoulder. 

Dinner was the most relaxing and fun time Kaoru had had in, literally, days. In spite of – or perhaps because of—the sarcasm and teasing remarks that flew back and forth between her and Yahiko, she hardly had any unhappy moments at all, aside from a single distressing sock-related incident. 

It was nice having a car, she thought as she got ready to head back to her apartment. If she’d been there on her bike, she wouldn’t have felt comfortable staying as late as she had, or she would have had to ask her dad to give her and her bike a ride back, and she hated to bother him on the night when he usually worked out the class scheduling for the upcoming week. 

Out of habit, she looked in her room to see if there was anything else she wanted to bring back while she was at the house, but didn’t find anything. The sight of Kenshin’s clothes, balled up in a corner, gave her momentary pause, but she gave them an incendiary glare that unfortunately failed to have any effect, and left them where they were. She might clean out the fridge, but as far as she was concerned, if Kenshin wanted his clothes back, he could just wait until they slithered back to him on their own, having hopefully evolved enough intelligence to try to smother him on sight.

* * *

When she got back to her own apartment, she let out a long breath. She had been half-afraid that Kenshin would be there, or lurking in the hallway. In fact, she supposed she’d half-expected him to show up at the dojo and claim that he’d just happened to be in the neighborhood before groping her in front of her father and little brother and heading on his merry way. 

Mechanically, she assembled everything she needed for the start of another school week, cleaning out her briefcase as she went. 

_‘Folders, attendance lists, binders; check. Calculator, pencils, one pen, two pen, red pen, blue pen; check. Notebook, graph paper... why is there a roll of masking tape in here? Well, I must have had a reason, so I’ll just leave it.... and thus it will be discovered years later, still unused and completely unexplained.....’_

Kaoru looked over her closet and decided that wearing one of her new suits, with a new blouse, would get the week off to a happy start. A shiny, happy start, unencumbered by traumatic memories that were not directly academically-related. A shiny, happy, cheerful start that would remain strong in the face of curmudgeonly supervisors, snarky younger brothers, and the upcoming job search she wasn’t allowing herself to think about just yet. 

Looking down at her own clothes after she’d gotten everything out for the morning, Kaoru wrinkled her nose. She’d been so caught up in moving the dummies in the dojo and then cleaning up after the dummies in the house that she’d forgotten to shower after her sparring match. On the plus side, a shower would definitely help her to relax before bed, so she supposed she didn’t mind too much. 

One long, jasmine-scented shower later, Kaoru was relaxing in her bathrobe on the couch, hair wrapped up in a towel as she painted her toenails with Asphyxia, a pale blue-toned lavender that she had, in fact, stolen from Misao. She’d thrown in a mindless action movie with a touch of romance that was mostly there so she could treat it as comic relief, and was thoroughly enjoying the distraction. Once it was over, she stood up and stretched, shaking her hair out before she brushed it and put it into her usual braid. After one last round through her apartment to make sure that the door was locked, the windows were closed and locked, none of the burners were on, and all of the lights were off, Kaoru settled into bed with a sigh. 

A good night’s sleep would make everything all better, and a good week’s work would put everything in perspective, and by next weekend, she would be ready to drag Misao out to a night at the movies and spend the night surreptitiously throwing popcorn at the idiot fratboys who always seemed to sit three rows in front of wherever they were sitting. 

* * *

Kaoru smiled at the sun shining outside of the classroom. She had been right; everything was shiny and happy and off to a cheerful start. Even the crows, unless they were ravens, in the tree outside of the classroom looked cheerful as they perched and occasionally cawed to one another. 

“Now, class, today we are going to talk about a very important theme, a theme that many of you will find very important in your own lives,” she said, reaching for the box of chalk that was on her desk. 

Going over to the board, she wrote, “THE NERVOUS SYSTEM” in giant capital letters that swooped across the board, making sure to get all of her lines straight and her flourishes curvy. Handwriting was an important component of teaching; it was next to cleanliness which was next to.. next to... something she could never remember, but she supposed it wasn’t that important. 

“Now, there’s a telegraph line,” Kaoru said, drawing on the board, “You’ve got yours and I’ve got mine—it’s called the nervous system. And everybody understands those telegram commands, and you know that everybody...I’m sorry; was there a question?” 

The only sound was the cawing of the ravens, unless they were crows, from outside the window, as they shook their ragged wings and shifted position, sniffing at the wind. Turning, Kaoru saw that the students were sitting there, perfectly well-ordered, grinning at her as they took precise notes. 

There was something about those smiles that she wasn’t sure she liked, but she smiled in return and turned back to the board. 

“Oh, no, not again!” Kaoru groaned. The chalk lines on the board were slowly bleeding into each other, dripping redly down onto the floor with a monotonous plunking noise, all the lovely curlicues and flourishes and straight lines melting and really, was it so much to ask that the chalk stay where she put it for once? She was being graded on this! 

“Mr. Fujita, the chalk.. ” she started as she turned towards the window, where she could see her supervisor smoking and staring at the skeletal birds flying and crying loudly around the withered branches of the trees.

“I wish that they wouldn’t do that all the time,” Kaoru muttered under her breath, before she realized that the students were no longer in the classroom. 

“Um.. did the bell ring? Was that the bell ringing? Because I was supposed to go to lunch, and if I’m late, I think they give you detention. The students seem to have left, and I hadn’t finished the lecture yet.” 

The older teacher snorted, sending plumes of smoke shooting out of his nose. “Well, don’t just stand there, Ms Kamiya! If you’re out of students, go look in the closet and get some!” 

Kaoru looked towards the back of the room, to the closet door standing slightly open. She really wasn’t sure that she wanted to... but the sun was shining, and it was a bright and cheerful day, except for the skeletons, and how was she supposed to give a lecture without any students? So, looking back and forth, she sighed and headed towards the closet. 

The door creaked loudly, like disused machinery, and she made a mental note to make a note of that so she could fix it. As she entered the closet, which seemed to have gotten a lot bigger than she remembered... although she wasn’t sure that there had been a closet at all there last week, so she supposed that any closet was a lot bigger... she almost tripped over a bucket that some idiot had left there. 

“Why don’t people ever pick up after themselves?” she griped to nobody in particular, looking around for a shelf to put the bucket back where it belonged. The shelves were all full, though, with glass jars and plastic containers and heaps of things that looked like they were made out of rusted metal. There were labels on the shelves, but Kaoru quickly decided that they had no relation to what was there, since those certainly didn’t look like any eyeballs she’d ever seen, even with the formaldehyde.

She was just reaching a hand out to start re-arranging everything when she found herself yanked backwards, into a classroom that seemed to have suddenly gotten dark, desks toppled and chairs strewn across the floor, and she looked up in shock... 

...at something that might at one point have been Kenshin, but was now all sharp bones poking out of rotting skin and long red hair that hung limp and spattered with darker red, and sunken eye sockets that held darkness and faint amber fire.... 

Claw-like fingers tightened on her wrist as he gave her a rictus, skeletal grin full of pointed teeth. 

“This... this isn’t... I’m supposed to have a knife,” Kaoru stuttered, “or at least a sock... you can’t just go yanking people out of closets and expect...” 

Paying no attention, the thing in front of her ran one clawed hand down the wall next to her face with a screech like nails on a blackboard. 

“Poor little girl, lost and all alone,” he said, in a voice like splinters of broken glass, “You should never have run away; it only causes problems...” 

Her wrist was burning where his fingers touched her, and she stifled a scream as his other hand came far too close to her cheek. Her breathing was coming too fast, and she couldn’t seem to get her thoughts in order, even though she knew she had to do _something_ , she wasn’t just going to stand there and let him dig his fingernails into her wrist enough to make it bleed... 

... except that he already was, and she watched, fascinated, as blood dripped slowly onto the floor. She knew that it hurt, that it burned and cut at the same time, but the pain somehow hadn’t really made itself known yet and she looked at it with a kind of detachment 

_‘Ooops...’_ Kaoru thought, _‘And I was doing so well with this sort of thing...’_

He was dragging his fingernails slowly from her wrist to her elbow, a calm rhythm that left long red streaks in its wake, and there was a matching pain on her cheek as his other hand traced one long line and then another across it. The pain hit her sharply then, like needles, like acid that ate away at her skin and didn’t stop at the boundaries of her wounds, pain that echoed and re-echoed even as he backed away and drew his sword with a hiss that slashed across her ears. 

“Hold still, now” he said, “It isn’t any fun if you don’t play right.” 

Kaoru was panting as she leaned against the wall, her eyes transfixed by the light hitting the blade as it moved. With an anguished wail, she pushed herself away from the wall and ducked under the slash of his blade, crying out as the sparks it made when it hit the wall sizzled against her back. 

Her feet were slipping in the puddles on the floor as she ran out into the hallway; she didn’t want to think about the puddles, they weren’t important right now, there were other things to think about, and if she was leaving a trail behind her, she couldn’t stop to think about that either, she was running down the hallway, like she was always running down the hallway, like sometimes it seemed like her whole life was running down some damned hallway stinking of blood and death and rot and rust, never any way to end it or get out except through doors that led to searches for things that were sharp and damaging, but she was already damaged and didn’t need any help, thank you very much, and she could still feel the cuts like razors across her wrist, on her cheek... 

“Stupid, interfering,bitch!” a voice hissed out of the darkness, and she didn’t have time for anything more than a scream that was shortened as something like barbed wire ripped across her throat, leaving nothing but choking agony in its wake. 

_‘Swords aren’t supposed to do that,’_ some part of her brain commented, but it was drowned out in blood and pain and helplessness as she held her bleeding hands up to her bleeding throat and tried, really she tried, to do something, anything, but she couldn’t, there wasn’t even time enough to get out of the way as the sword struck, piercing her chest so that pain blossomed, white-hot, more than she thought was possible given what she was already feeling... 

“Now you know what it’s like,” the thing that wasn’t exactly Kenshin said, pausing to lick the blood off of the sword, “The rest, though, that’s just a bonus, to make sure you’re remembered....” 

And as he raised his sword again, Kaoru backed into a wall that rotted and crumbled as she touched it, that somehow caught at her arm and held it. She didn’t know how, maybe it was just in her head, but she started screaming when she saw the light on the blade, and couldn’t seem to make herself stop, couldn’t even take her eyes off the sword that was swinging down at her, again and again, and she struggled wildly, trying to move her arms, kicking in an attempt to get leverage... 

_Kaoru!_

... her heart beating in panic, and blood everywhere, and that horrible frozen grin... 

_KAORU!_

.... fighting wildly against the way she couldn’t seem to move, to evade the strike that she knew was going to kill her, and her screams were still echoing and re-echoing, which made no _sense_ , but it didn’t matter because... 

_KAORU! KAORU!_

.. and she woke up with a sudden start, like the shock of cold water, trying to piece her surroundings back together like a jigsaw puzzle, fragments slowly becoming clearer. 

She was in her bed, the moonlight streaming in through her window, and there was no pain, just an unfamiliar weight that she couldn’t figure out, and a voice murmuring awfully close to her ear, low and soothing, words that she couldn’t make sense of over the pounding of her heart. 

_‘Oh, good, I’m not dead...’_ Kaoru thought dizzily, _‘That’s a relief, because I think the students would pay even less attention to me if I was noncorporeal...’_

And then, as the shock of the sudden transition from sleeping to waking faded and the details of the nightmare filtered back into her consciousness, she opened her eyes and tried to curl up into a ball under the covers...

Only to find herself looking up into a pair of concerned violet eyes, red hair falling down onto her face, and realized that what she had registered as an unfamiliar weight was Kenshin, pinning her so that she could barely move, holding her wrists above her head and using his legs to cage hers. 

“Are you...” Kenshin began as he let go and started to move so that he could sit up. 

And Kaoru screamed and jerked away from him, stopped only by the headboard. She curled up and stared, wide-eyed, the lingering remnants of her nightmare in her expression as she took several panicked breaths and then buried her face in her hands with a low wail. 

She barely registered a careful arm around her shoulders, that low, soothing voice again, a hand gently stroking up and down her arm, and the way that he adjusted her position so that she was leaning against him, her head tucked into his shoulder as he held her, rocking slowly back and forth. 

“It’s all right, you’re awake now,” Kenshin murmured to her, keeping his voice quiet. He wanted to add that she was safe and that he was here with her, but considering how her first reaction to seeing him had been less than positive, he wasn’t sure it would help. She was still trembling and he could smell the salt of her tears. He didn’t think that she was even registering their fall, and he was positive that she hadn’t connected his being in the room with the arms around her and the voice repeating over and over that everything was alright now. 

“Hush, kitten, it’s alright now,” he repeated, “I’m... you’re... you’re awake, in your own apartment, and nothing can get to you.” He leaned his face against her hair and just breathed for several long moments, hoping that the steady rhythm of his heart and the pattern of his breathing would soothe her. He could already feel that her breathing was less shallow, more regular, and the slightly hiccupping sobs were dying down. 

“It was just a nightmare, Kaoru, nothing that can hurt you, nothing but shadows,” Kenshin said, “You don’t have to worry about anything, you’re safe.” 

She sniffled slightly and said, “You keep using that word... I don’t think it means what you think it means...” in a voice still slightly choked with tears and hoarse from screaming. 

He tightened his arms and rested his chin against her forehead. “It means that your dream was nothing but a bad dream and not anything that can hurt you in the real world. Shadows and bad memories, but nothing you need to fear.” 

“You don’t even know what I was dreaming. Idiot.” Kaoru murmured.

“I have a fairly good idea,” Kenshin said, half-smiling against her hair. “At least for some of it, I have a fairly good idea.” He adjusted his arms so that he could massage across her shoulderblades and at the base of her neck. “Now try to relax and get some sleep, ok, kitten?”

The noise she made in the back of her throat as his hands continued to rub where her back and shoulders were knotted and tense could best be described as a purr, and Kenshin dropped a string of kisses along her hairline almost before he realized what he was doing. She stretched slightly against him in a way that was definitely distracting and sighed so that her breath stirred his hair where it fell across his shoulder.

He kept massaging and making soothing noises to her, feeling the way that she slowly relaxed. After several minutes, Kaoru blinked sleepily and asked, “Are you... singing?” in a half-awake voice. 

“Little bit, yes,” Kenshin admitted, “Sleep, kitten; you’ve had a long day.” 

“No... fair...” Kaoru murmured as her eyes fluttered closed again and her breathing fell into the regular pattern of sleep. Kenshin kept running his hands up and down her back long after she had drifted off, then he moved them both so that he was lying down and she was curled up against him, head pillowed on his chest so that she could hear his heartbeat even in sleep. 

Adjusting his arms around her, Kenshin kissed the top of her head and said softly, “Fair, kitten, is highly overrated.” 

Then he let out a deep breath, closed his eyes, and proceeded to fall asleep himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Chapter: The author, in a blatant attempt to make up for the low red-head quotient in the last couple of chapters, tosses Kenshin showerwards again.
> 
> Author’s Note: AND we are finally out of the Weekend that Would Not End—seriously, it started with Chapter 13, where Misao came over Friday evening to... err... .”help” Kaoru with dressing for the club, went through the club, and kidnapping, and rescue, and waking up, and fleeing, and so on.. and next chapter, ten chapters later, it will finally be Monday morning! Good grief. And, no, the entire fic will not be running on that kind of timeline.
> 
> In this chapter: I don’t know why I keep giving Kaoru “Schoolhouse Rock” songs in her nightmares... I really like them! They’re good! And except for the one with the skeletons, not at all scary! Ah well. I also don’t own that particular part of the “Feng Shui” arc in the “Rurouni Kenshin” anime where Kenshin basically faces off against a decayed, semi-skeletal version of his past self, but I did borrow some of the general idea. And I don’t own any references to King Arthur as the “once and future king” (from Sano’s “once and future girlfriend” line), Dr. Seuss’s “One fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish” book, or Asphyxia, which is another Urban Decay color (although when I went to double-check it, they seem to be out of stock). Nor do I own the Wordsworth poem “The Two Trees,” which talks about the ravens of unresting thought, or Loreena McKennit’s beautiful version of it. And I still don’t own “The Princess Bride”... yet! Bwa ha ha!


	23. Bound and Determined

Kaoru knew in the back of her mind that there was something she should be bothered by, but she was too comfortable and warm to focus on it much. Focusing meant moving, and she was so happily floating in a kind of boneless state of relaxation that she really couldn’t bring herself to do either. 

There was something familiar about her state of relaxation that she also knew should be bothering her, but it seemed to be just barely out of reach. She exhaled and attempted to burrow into the pillow, but the pillow didn’t seem to want to cooperate. In fact, it chuckled. 

Wait... that couldn’t possibly be right. Kaoru opened her eyes suspiciously, and found that for the second time in three days, she was looking at Kenshin’s chest. 

_‘Oh, crap...’_

Now that she was more aware of her surroundings, she realized that his arms were around her—again!—and that the two of them were curled up together in her bed. 

“Damn it, Kenshin, stop that!” she spat out as he refused to let her roll away from him. 

The only response she got was another low chuckle and something that felt suspiciously like he was nuzzling her hair. Maneuvering one of her hands, she smacked him on the shoulder. Several times. Then she said, “I have to get up and get to work! And why are you here in the first place? And... _ohmygod what time is it!_ ” 

This last was said in a tone of definite panic as Kaoru connected the light streaming in where her curtains didn’t quite meet to the probable angle of the sun in the sky and what that said about the lateness of the hour. She struggled and was seriously considering smacking him some more, when Kenshin calmly replied, “I don’t know what time it is, exactly, but don’t worry about work; you’ve called in sick.” 

“I did _what?_ ” Kaoru exclaimed, ceasing momentarily in her efforts to get free. “Well, I guess I must have been pretty sick indeed, if I don’t remember actually _calling_ them!” 

“Calm down, kitten; I talked with Sai—with the school, and explained that you had accidentally given yourself food poisoning, but that you would be fine tomorrow.” 

“ _Food poisoning?!”_

Feeling someone shrug while you were lying on top of them was definitely an odd experience. “It needed to be believable. Now, did you want to shower while I make breakfast?” 

“No, I do _not_ want to shower while you make breakfast. I want to shower while you are someplace far away from here!” She finally managed to sit up as she said it, glaring down at him as he lay back against the pillows, perfectly at ease. His smug expression made her want to hit him, but she was fairly certain that he was just waiting for her to try it so that he could catch her hand and smirk.

Gritting her teeth, Kaoru got out of bed, keeping her eyes on Kenshin as she grabbed for her bathrobe. Even though the oversized shirt she had worn to bed was reasonably decent, she still felt exposed. The way that Kenshin kept darting glances down to her legs wasn’t helping. On the other hand, at least she could be thankful that she’d fastened enough of the buttons to cover the telltale marks on her neck. With as much of a dignified stomp as she could manage, Kaoru headed to the bathroom, locked the door, looked around to see if there was something she could brace it with, considered wrestling the small cabinet by the sink over into position, and discarded the idea on the grounds that she would then have to wrestle it back. Instead, she concentrated on showering thoroughly, to get rid of any traces of her nightmare or the way that she’d spent the rest of the night after that. The bathroom was full of steam and the scent of jasmine by the time that she had finished, but Kaoru didn’t care. 

The scent of fresh coffee and something that Kaoru was fairly sure was French Toast made her bite her lip as she peered back into the other room. She had hoped that a long shower would encourage Kenshin to leave, not to cook. On the other hand, she had just realized that she had neglected to bring any clothes with her into the bathroom, so she supposed knowing that Kenshin was in the kitchen was better than Kenshin lurking in her bedroom, leaning up against her pillows with his shirt all unbuttoned and his hair tousled with sleep... 

_‘Damn it! Of all the stupid images to get stuck in my head... why couldn’t I be thinking of something normal, like global warming-related coastal flooding or the social problems of modern youth?’_

Since she was apparently called in sick for the day--- Kaoru scowled again as she pulled on her socks—there was no need to get dressed up professionally. In fact, she deliberately picked an old flannel button-up shirt and a faded pair of jeans. The goal was completely boring and casual. Instead of putting her hair into its usual ponytail, she braided it again and put the braid up with a barrette so that loose bits of hair stuck out in random directions. Then, just to be on the safe side, she wrapped a scarf around her neck, under the collar of her shirt. 

* * *

When she came into the kitchen, Kenshin was pouring the coffee, having already set the table. Two pieces of French Toast were on each plate already, steam rising gently from them as pats of butter slowly melted on top. 

_‘Oh, not again... the waffles were bad enough....now the French Toast...I really don’t want any more annoyingly tasty breakfast foods to have to deal with.’_

The fact that the entire kitchen smelled of cinnamon and vanilla and coffee—and since when did she have cinnamon and vanilla? -- did nothing to help Kaoru’s resolve not to be affected by her breakfast. Neither did the fact that the French Toast tasted just as good as it smelled. 

“How’s the French Toast?” Kenshin asked, once again acting as if everything about the morning was perfectly normal. 

Waiting until she’d swallowed, Kaoru said, “I don’t understand where you got the cinnamon and vanilla. Or the eggs. Or the milk. No, wait, I had milk. Or the bread, then.” 

He grinned at her and replied, “I went back to my place and got everything. Including the milk, by the way, because what you had... well, let’s just say it put up some resistance to being taken out of the fridge.” 

“Why?” 

“I suspect it was because it was it had been in there for way too long. I’m not quite sure how that could happen, since you haven’t lived here for that long, but trust me, it needed to go.” 

Tightening her grip on her coffee mug, Kaoru said, “Why did you make French Toast, idiot? Why did you make anything resembling breakfast, why are you here, and, come to think of it, how did you get into my room in the first place?” 

“Breakfast is an important meal,” Kenshin said with perfect sincerity, belied only by the slight amber twinkle in his eyes. “And as for the reason... you were having a nightmare, kitten.” 

“Yes, I noticed that,” Kaoru returned evenly, “And it really isn’t any of your business that I can see.” 

Something determined crept into his eyes as he replied, “When things that you had to go through because of me end up causing you nightmares, then, yes, Kaoru, it is my business. I refuse to let you go through something like that all by yourself.” 

“What I go through is also none of your business,” she retorted. “You think the nightmares aren’t something I’ve been through before? They go away. Eventually.” 

“Well, I’m here to help them go away faster,” Kenshin said smoothly. His smile turned serious as he said, “Just because you had to go through this on your own once doesn’t mean that you have to do it again.” 

“It seems preferable to the alternative!” Kaoru muttered under her breath. She had a feeling that the conversation was getting away from her and she didn’t entirely like it. True, she had come to the realization that Kenshin might be... that his interest might be... Well, at any rate, even if she’d come to the realization, she clearly was having trouble wrapping her brain around it, let alone finding a way to broach the issue with Kenshin. And that was even assuming that she _wanted_ to broach the subject, instead of ignoring it and hoping that she was wrong and that Kenshin had some other motivations for his actions, like a plot to take over the world or some kind of statistical study on the behalf of the demon world. 

“Going through this on your own,” Kenshin returned, interrupting her train of thought, “is not acceptable. You can’t expect to be functional, let alone at your best, if you can’t sleep. And you can’t sleep if you keep getting plagued by dreams that have you so distressed that it’s enough to pull me from a sound sleep several rooms over.” He came over and squatted down in front of the chair Kaoru was sitting in, his expression serious as he looked into her eyes. “You’re the one who pointed out that Jineh grabbed you because of me. The least I can do is make up for it by helping you get over the stress.” 

“It’s not helpful when your helping causes more stress!” Kaoru shot back, “Do I have to stick to words of one syllable to make it clear? I will get past this on my own, with no help from you. You don’t have to make up for things; just leave. I. Don’t. Want. You. Here.” 

“Ah,” Kenshin murmured, reaching a hand up to touch a tendril of her hair which had escaped to curl along the side of her face and down her neck, “But I like being here, kitten. I like waking up with you curled around me the way that you do.” 

“I do _not_...” Kaoru interrupted, indignant.

Ignoring her, Kenshin continued, “I like hearing the way that your heart beats in time with mine, and I like the way being close to you makes jasmine drift through my dreams...” Kaoru suddenly realized that he had gotten a great deal nearer, and stared, transfixed, at the shifting colors in his eyes. Her mouth had suddenly gone dry, and she couldn’t seem to string a sentence together to distract him. Her breath caught at the feel of the back of his hand running slowly down her cheek, at the way his gaze went to her lips, still slightly parted from her half-finished sentence and the way that she was breathing. Kaoru wondered idly if there had been something in the French Toast, because her thoughts seemed to be moving slowly, almost disconnectedly. She knew that Kenshin was moving forwards, but couldn’t seem to tell her muscles to move past the warmth that seemed to be pooling low in her stomach at the look in his eyes. She wasn’t entirely sure that she wasn’t leaning towards him as well, tilting her head slightly as she felt his breath ghost across her lips a second before he was kissing her, taking utterly unfair advantage of the way that her lips were parted, catching the noises that she found herself making in the back of her throat as the feel of Kenshin’s mouth cherishing hers sent sparks along her veins. 

His hands were running through her hair, tracing patterns on her shoulderblades, the feel of his fingers leaving lingering trails of warmth across her skin as he moved his hands in slow strokes down her arms. She moved to reach for him, but he was still holding her arms, moving his hands to her elbows, down to her wrists, and carefully undoing the buttons on her cuffs as his thumb stroked across the pulse point in one wrist. Kenshin leaned in so that his chest pressed against hers, all the while kissing her, his tongue flicking against hers in a way that erased every coherent thought, everything except her need to lean closer still, to respond in kind to the movements of his lips, his tongue, the way that he seemed determined to explore her responses to him, the way that she couldn’t think of anything except... 

_Click_

_‘What...’_ Kaoru thought as she registered the sound a moment before she realized that the warmth of Kenshin’s fingers around her wrists had been replaced by something cold and smooth, something like... metal. Startled, she tried to move away from it, but found that she couldn’t move either of her hands more than a couple of inches, and that moving one pulled the other along with it. She jerked away from Kenshin and tried to move her hands again as she realized exactly what he had just done.

“YOU RAT BASTARD!!!” Kaoru shouted at full volume, “I can’t believe you, you... you _handcuffed_ me to the chair! I’m going to strangle you with your own ponytail, after I figure out a way to gut you with the salad tongs and feed your intestines to the cat, you asinine, arrogant...” Her words trailed off into something like a snarl as she aimed a solid kick at him. Unfortunately, the result was that she overbalanced slightly, and Kenshin had to catch the chair before it toppled. He even managed to stay out of the way of her feet as he stood up, leaning over to look down at the way her eyes were flashing fire at him with a smile that made her growl and try to kick him again. 

“I have to take a shower, kitten, and if you think I’m giving you the chance to run off again, you are _very_ much mistaken,” Kenshin said. 

“ _You handcuffed me to a chair!!”_ Kaoru yelled, before launching into a detailed description of what Kenshin could do with himself, his thoughts, and various kitchen utensils that had him raising one eyebrow and blinking before he grinned broadly. Leaning forward, he brushed his lips against hers mid-rant, moving away again before she could manage to bite him. 

“Would you prefer to join me in the shower?” Kenshin asked, “Because that would be your other option at the moment. I don’t trust you not to run off, and there’s no way that I’m going to let you try something like that again. There are some things that we need to deal with.” 

“Unless they involve you meeting a horrible and long-overdue demise, I am not interested,” she spat at him with a mutinous glare. “And whether I chose to leave _my own apartment_ or not is my business, not yours. Go use your own shower—it’s much nicer—and leave me the _hell_ alone, you... you...”

“Now, now, kitten; behave yourself. Just relax and I’ll be back in a little bit.” And with that, ignoring the extremely creative invectives directed at his back, Kenshin left the kitchen and headed off towards the shower.

He didn’t bother to lock the door; in fact, he left it open a slight crack, so that he could hear it if anything unusual was happening in the rest of the apartment. Kenshin wasn’t stupid enough to believe that Kaoru was going to sit quietly in her handcuffs like a good little girl and wait for him to come back and undo them. 

The bathroom smelled of jasmine and Kaoru, and Kenshin inhaled appreciatively as he hung his clothes on the peg by the door. It was... comforting, although not exactly _relaxing_ in the normal sense. In fact, it made part of him wonder why he’d decided to handcuff Kaoru to a chair in the kitchen rather than following through on his threat of having her join him in the shower. He looked under the counter for more of the plain soap Kaoru kept next to the sink to wash her hands and also found a bottle of shampoo and conditioner that didn’t have any scent to it. Kenshin smiled; not that he minded the scent of jasmine, far from it. It was, however, a much better scent on Kaoru. 

As he turned the water on and adjusted the temperature, he caught a glimpse of Kaoru’s towel hanging on the rack. 

_‘Kaoru, running out into her living room, damp hair tumbling down her back, wrapped only in a towel that really covered barely enough to be considered decent... the curve of her breasts clearly visible, and the length of her slender legs....’_

That had been a sight worth having to clean up the mug of tea he’d dropped when he’d seen her. Kenshin had been completely transfixed as he watched her pacing as she’d spoken on the phone. It had impressed him that she had been able to maintain both a grip on the phone and her precarious hold on the towel. Impressed, and slightly disappointed. 

Standing under the water, Kenshin wondered if Kaoru had had any idea what she had looked like at that moment. Or later in the club, with those pants that fit her like a second skin, and that top that showed off the muscles of her stomach and gave such tantalizing glimpses of cleavage. Somehow, he really doubted that she did. There had been something about her that had been... well, the best word that he could think of for it was “innocent,” a non-awareness that was the obvious result of a lack of experience. Misao’s words drifted through his memory. 

_“What? I’m just happy; I mean, I was starting to worry that Kaoru was going to be a virgin forever!”_

Kenshin smiled to himself as he lathered up the shampoo. He had to admit, the perky turquoise-eyed girl’s comment had been something of a shock—possibly even more for him than for Kaoru. Although, remembering Kaoru’s shocked expression, the squeaked choking noises that she had made and the way her jaw had gone slack, he doubted it. Her expression at that moment had rivaled the one she’d had when she’d felt his hand in her back pocket. 

_‘I don’t know why it surprised me...’_ Kenshin thought, _‘In high school she didn’t really do anything except go from school to the library to the dojo, and she must have been the same way in college to finish her degrees so quickly.... not to mention the fact that, if her general reaction to being in that club was any indication, she doesn’t like that sort of thing now any more than she did in high school...’_

Leaning into the water to rinse out his hair, he considered what this might mean for his own future actions. Once he’d gotten over his initial shock at Misao’s statement, he’d actually been happy that she’d said something. Kenshin had never understood the obsession so many human men had with being a woman’s _first_ lover when it was obviously so much more important to be the one who was permanent. Frankly, he had expected Kaoru to have had some experience already, and there was a not inconsiderable section in his list of things to do once he’d found her again that dealt with boyfriends, actual or potential, and the quickest, most practical, most permanent ways to take care of them. Knowing that there wasn’t anybody serious in Kaoru’s life had relieved him; knowing that there never really had been anybody like that... well, it explained some things. 

Turning off the water, Kenshin paused momentarily at the sound of a loud crash from the general direction of the kitchen, followed by several colorful idiomatic phrases that would have made Sano blush. He considered calling out to her, but decided against it, since he would be able to hear it if she managed to make it out of the kitchen. And if he heard any noises that indicated that she had, he was going to go out there and drag her off to whichever room he decided to at the time, regardless of what he was or was not wearing. On the other hand, he supposed that he should hurry. No point in giving Kaoru even more time to get furious, assuming that she even had a level past apoplectic. 

He had several ideas about how he could convince her to forgive him... but, especially considering Misao’s recent revelation, he supposed that he would have to wait a while before implementing them. 

After roughly towel-drying his hair, Kenshin pulled on his jeans again and headed out to the kitchen, moving silently on bare feet, senses alert for, say, attack furniture. When he reached the doorway, he had to stifle a laugh at the sight that met his eyes. Kaoru had managed to topple the chair over, breaking it into several large pieces, and had then managed to get the handcuffs off of the chair. However, since her hands had been cuffed behind her, she was still working on standing up, the expression on her face indicating that she was also running through possible ways to get the handcuffs off. He found her look of concentration endearing, a reminder of the way that Kaoru always approached difficult situations and put everything she had into getting herself out of them. 

“That doesn’t look at all comfortable,” he observed casually as he came into the room, careful to avoid the bits and pieces of chair scattered across the floor. 

She started and turned to glare at him, her jaw set and her eyes sparking. “Oh, I’m sorry,” Kaoru spat at him, “I didn’t realize that you were interested in my being _comfortable._ ” 

_‘Why couldn’t he have taken a longer shower?’_ she thought to herself _‘I only needed about ten more minutes, assuming I remembered everything Misao told me about how to get out of handcuffs...’_

Kenshin appeared to have thrown on the same pair of jeans that he had been wearing before, his damp hair hanging loose over bare shoulders. Looking up at him from her position on the floor was a very strange angle, and she didn’t at all like the faintly amused twinkle she could see in his eyes at her predicament. Making a very annoyed, half-growling noise, she braced herself to try to stand up again, but before she could even fall over, she found herself being righted easily as Kenshin pulled her carefully onto her feet and let her lean slightly back against the kitchen table for support. Even after she was standing, however, he didn’t move back, and she found herself staring at his bare chest and shoulders. She knew that her breathing was slightly heavier than normal, the result of her attempts to free herself and a side-effect of the way her breath had been slightly knocked out of her when she’d knocked over the chair to break it. Absently, she registered that Kenshin still smelled like ginger and something wild and outdoorsy, even though she knew she didn’t have anything in her bathroom that smelled that way. 

“Now, kitten, if I take these off, do you promise to behave yourself?” Kenshin inquired. She promptly kicked him in the ankles for sounding so amused at her predicament, not to mention being the reason behind her predicament in the first place. 

“I don’t think that that counts as behaving,” he remarked with a slight grimace. 

“You deserved it,” Kaoru snapped at him, “What you did was _completely_ unfair, and underhanded, and unnecessary...”

“Are you saying that you wouldn’t have tried to run off again while I was in the shower?” Kenshin raised one eyebrow as he spoke, clearly skeptical. The way that she bit her lip and blushed slightly was enough of an answer for him. “There, you see? You were going to run away from me again, Kaoru, and you know it.” 

“Ninety percent of our relationship is me running away from you!” Kaoru said, her tone shifting from anger to exasperation. Then she let out a shriek of surprise as she found herself picked up and spun around twice, Kenshin’s arms firmly wrapped around her, before he kissed her lightly and set her back down, still not releasing her. She blinked and tried to process what had just happened, still feeling slightly dizzy, either from the spinning or his proximity, she couldn’t tell. When she looked up at him, Kenshin was grinning broadly. 

“That, kitten,” he declared, “is the first time that you’ve admitted that we actually are in a relationship.” 

_‘Wh—what?’_

“It... I... I did _not_ mean... we aren’t... you can’t...” Kaoru stuttered. ‘ _Oh... crap..._ ’ This was worse than the mall. Much, much, much worse, if the amber sparks in Kenshin’s eyes were anything to go by. “Wh. what are you _doing_?” she finally managed as Kenshin shifted position slightly and his expression took on a thoughtful cast. 

“Well, I am getting ready to kiss you, _very_ thoroughly,” he answered, moving one arm from its position around her and running his hand up her arm and across to her neck,” and then I plan on investigating exactly why you’ve decided to wear this lovely scarf that really doesn’t match the rest of your outfit.” Her pulse jumped as he ran one finger under the edge of the scarf that she’d put on that morning, and he smiled in a way that made it jump again. “And after that...” he murmured, already leaning forward so that she could feel his words ghosting across her lips, “...well, after that, I thought that I might improvise..... Kaoru” 

This time, there was something more urgent in the press of his lips against hers, the way his mouth moved against hers making her feel like sparks were shooting along her nerves. She felt his hands on her wrists again, and heard the metallic clatter as the cuffs fell to the floor, only half-registering what it meant, understanding it only in terms of her ability to wrap her arms around Kenshin, reveling in the feel of his bare skin under her hands, the way she could feel him responding to her touch. It caused a fleeting sense of surprise to know that it was because of her; she had never thought that she could do that. But her surprise was rapidly lost to the other feelings running through her veins. 

He undid the knot on her scarf after he had finished with the handcuffs, feeling the silky material slide loose and then dropping it to the floor. When he pulled back from kissing her, Kaoru made a protesting noise in the back of her throat and looked up at him with dazed eyes. “Don’t worry, kitten,” he murmured, kissing along her jawline and catching her earlobe in his teeth so that she moaned and arched against him in a way that sent heat racing down his spinal cord. “I’m nowhere close to finished yet.”

Pulling back the collar of her shirt slightly, he smiled and made an approving noise at the sight of the marks along the base of her throat before he bent his head again to the juncture of her neck and shoulder, lightly tasting her skin. “You smell delicious,” Kenshin murmured against her skin, “You always...” his words trailed off as he pressed his lips against the rapidly beating pulse in her neck. Kaoru was clinging to him, her hands running up and down in random patterns on his back, soft noises falling from her slightly open mouth. She was bent slightly backwards, and he shifted his position so that he could lift her up to perch more comfortably on the table, pulling her body as close to his as he could manage, feeling the way that she trembled slightly at the heat of their contact. Kaoru whimpered and closed her eyes, seeing sparks of color behind her lids as Kenshin kissed her again. 

His hands were running up along her sides, slow, careful motions that spiraled through her, and Kenshin groaned deep in his throat when he reached the curve of her breasts. Kaoru made an answering noise at the feel of his hands on her, arching into his touch, a pleading gasp all she could manage in response as he caressed her. She could feel the warmth of his hands through her clothes, the careful friction of his touch causing her to clench her fingers on his shoulders and press her mouth urgently against his, losing herself in the need that was shooting through her. When one hand traced the notch in her collarbone and undid the first two buttons of her shirt, she made a sound of approval and want. 

If she’d thought that Kenshin’s obvious hunger meant that he would be hasty or impatient, she soon found that she was wrong. Rather than immediately finishing undoing her shirt, he traced calloused fingers slowly across the now-exposed skin, following the scalloped lace at the top of her bra. Kaoru pressed against him in a way that was clearly meant to encourage him, seeking more contact. She could almost feel Kenshin’s smile and hear the affirmative half-growl deep in his throat as his hands moved.... 

The loud ringing noise that suddenly sounded throughout the confines of the room took several seconds to work its way through the fog of sensations Kaoru was wrapped in. In fact, she registered the way that Kenshin had suddenly frozen in place and tensed under her hands before she heard the noise again and understood the reason why. He pulled away and rested his forehead against hers for several slow breaths before he disentangled himself, turned and walked over to answer the phone. 

Kaoru couldn’t quite make out what he was saying under his breath, but he didn’t sound at all happy. In fact, if the way he almost ripped her phone off of its hook was any indication, Kenshin was the opposite of happy. 

She found that her breathing was unsteady, and she could still feel warmth where Kenshin had been touching her, the scent of him still lingering. As Kenshin faced away from her and gave curt answers to whoever had just called, she tried to piece her thoughts back together from wherever they had scattered. 

_‘I... we... well, he said he was going to kiss me, and he definitely... not that this means that we are actually in a relationship, because that is not what I meant... oh, good grief... did I leave those marks on his back?’_

Mentally running through recent events, Kaoru was forced to conclude that, yes; those were fingernail marks on Kenshin’s back. In other news, her mind observed that she was still sitting on the edge of the table with her shirt partially unbuttoned, and rounded things out by casually reminding her that Kenshin had had to disengage her leg from around his waist before he’d answered the phone. 

She blinked. Kenshin had answered her phone? Not only that, he was talking with whoever had called. Well, he was listening to _them_ talk, his shoulders tense and his entire posture aggravated. Misao’s words from the day before came to mind... 

_‘...didn’t seem happy about it... sounded like he was having trouble getting a word in edge-wise, and he got the funniest little wrinkle between his eyes....’_

Kaoru couldn’t see whether or not Kenshin had a wrinkle, but if the way he was standing meant anything, plus the fact that he clearly was _trying_ to say something but failing... It sounded like Kenshin’s mysterious caller from the previous day had called again. On _her_ phone, and Kenshin had known who was calling when he answered. 

Frankly, Kaoru was fairly certain that if he hadn’t known, or if it hadn’t been important, Kenshin would have completely ignored the fact that the phone was ringing in the first place. The fact that Kenshin knew, and had answered, and the fact that someone she was fairly certain was a complete stranger to her had called for Kenshin... 

This was clearly one of those demon-type things. In fact, Kaoru had a sneaking suspicion that whoever was calling just might be... 

Kenshin sighed as he hung up the phone. While it was definitely not the worst possible timing—his brain was even now insistently producing scenarios where his Master’s voice would have been even _less_ welcome—it was still enough to make him grit his teeth throughout the entire conversation. To an even greater degree than he usually would, that was. Fortunately, there had been much less sarcasm then usual, since the message itself was fairly urgent. Kenshin really didn’t want to have to explain to Kaoru why her phone had been ripped out of the wall and then tossed through her kitchen window. Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath and turned around to where Kaoru was just descending from the table. It didn’t help his state of mind to notice that she still hadn’t buttoned her shirt back up. 

“Kaoru...” he started, “I... I’m sorry; I have to go.” 

She cocked her head to one side and quietly asked, “Orders?” 

Kenshin blinked, then nodded. “Yes. How... how did you...?” 

“You and Jineh mentioned them in the factory, and you had to leave after that phone call the other day,” Kaoru explained with a shrug. She bit her lip, clearly trying to figure out how to phrase the next question.

_‘How did they do interrogations in all of those old war movies Dad used to watch? On the other hand, those always seemed to involve things like dark rooms and uncomfortable chairs and handcuffs and bright lights and people being slapped across the face with leather gloves while someone is saying, ‘Ve haf vays of meking you talk...’and I don’t have any of those, unless I ask to borrow Kenshin’s handcuffs, which seems improbable..’_

Before she could get past the stage of biting her lip and furrowing her brow, Kenshin murmured with a smile, “I should have known that you’d notice things like that, even under the circumstances....” Then, in a more normal tone of voice, Kenshin said, “There are still things that we need to talk about.... I don’t know how long this will take, but... when I get back, we’re going to have that discussion.”

After several moments of looking at him, Kaoru nodded. “Alright. That... that sounds like a good idea.” 

Letting out a breath he was only half-aware he’d been holding, Kenshin went back into the bathroom and put his shirt on. When he came back out into the living room and started towards the door, Kaoru was standing next to it, staring down at the floor and clearly thinking intently.

“I’ll be back as soon as I can, kitten,” Kenshin said, leaning in to kiss her forehead and then stand, leaning against her, for several long seconds. He brushed a stray strand of hair away from her face and smiled. “Try to not get into too much trouble while I’m gone, ok?”

“You’re one to talk about trouble,” Kaoru muttered. She stared after Kenshin as he opened the door and stepped out into the hallway. Then, before he could finish taking a step, she blurted out, “Kenshin?”

He stopped, clearly listening even though he wasn’t looking back at her.

Swallowing, Kaoru asked, “Back then... in high school, what you did... was that also... was that also because of orders?”

After a moment’s hesitation, Kenshin nodded. There was a brief moment when she thought he was going to say something, but instead, he simply walked into the hallway and carefully closed her door without looking back to make eye contact.

And Kaoru was left staring at the door, her thoughts whirling in several directions at once.

It looked like she was finally going to get some answers.

Even if she wasn’t entirely certain that she was going to like what those answers turned out to be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Chapter: Kaoru Kamiya Presents: The Top Ten Ways To Distract Yourself While Waiting For A Discussion You Might Not Want To Have In The First Place.
> 
> In this chapter I don’t own: The old RCA slogan about “His Master’s Voice,” with Nipper the Dog tilting his head to listen to a gramophone. Nor do I own handcuffs. Or, at the moment, milk, cinnamon, vanilla, or eggs. Hmm...


	24. Flock Together

Kaoru scowled down at the mangled carrot in front of her as if it was responsible for all of her current problems. In fact, if the poor vegetable hadn’t already been bent, folded, spindled, and mutilated, it probably would have burst into flames from the expression in her eyes. Her concentration was broken by Yahiko’s voice, coming from the direction of the stove.

“Umm... hey, sis? Is béchamel sauce supposed to be crunchy?”

Blinking, Kaoru dragged her thoughts back to the present and turned to face her brother. Yahiko’s expression was skeptical as he looked down at the contents of the pot and poked at it ineffectually with the serving spoon. Sighing, Kaoru went over to the cupboard and opened the door.

“It’ll be fine after we pour it through the sieve, Yahiko. How’s the pasta coming?”

“Don’t know. What’s it supposed to look like when it’s done?”

“Spaghetti-colored. Go get a fork and taste a piece if you’re not sure. And if I catch you throwing it at the wall to see if it sticks, I’m telling Dad that you weren’t paying attention during practice today.”

She really hoped that he didn’t call her bluff on that. If anybody hadn’t been paying attention during their sparring today, it had definitely _not_ been Yahiko. In fact, Kaoru considered herself lucky that it had apparently gone unnoticed, and was profoundly grateful that their father had been supervising a joint practice with another dojo on the other side of town. 

A week. A whole week since Kenshin had left after that call. A week where Kaoru found herself starting every time a phone rang and spinning around whenever she saw a flash of red out of the corner of her eye. A week during which she had tried, and failed, to figure out how she felt about Kenshin’s presence. Or his absence. The bits and pieces of information that she’d learned during their last meeting didn’t really do anything to help her. And the discussion that Kenshin had promised.... The one good thing about him being gone, even if “gone” was secret code for “off using his newly re-acquired sword in horrible and creative ways,” was that it delayed a conversation Kaoru wasn’t sure she would ever be ready to have. 

_‘Nothing like the prospect of an upcoming heart-to-heart with your demon wannabe-lover to make a girl feel calm, cool, and collected as she goes about her daily routine...”_

So far, trying to mentally prepare herself for whatever they were going to be discussing had resulted in a chemistry experiment demonstration that had almost dyed the classroom floor shamrock green, a promise to Misao that she would look after Angel Marie for a weekend, and hopelessly traumatized root vegetables. Not to mention the fact that she felt like she had barely slept since he’d left. While she hadn’t had any more nightmares that were more horrible than the old standby of wandering down her high school hallway to discover that she was about to have a test that she hadn’t studied for where the penalty for wrong answers was apparently being called up to the front of the auditorium and sliced into pieces in front of the other students, she still found herself unable to get to sleep at night and spent long hours staring at the numbers on her clock as they slowly progressed.

Then there had been two other dreams which, while Kaoru wasn’t certain they could be classified as “nightmares,” had definitely not been conducive to a good night’s sleep. Not to mention that she’d woken up from both of them with a vague sense that her pillow was supposed to be warmer and more solid and smell of ginger. It was, she thought, vastly annoying that it had taken her measurably longer to get back to sleep on those occasions than after her nightmares.

When she wasn’t conspicuously not sleeping, Kaoru found that her days kept her significantly more tense than normal. First of all, she kept looking nervously over her shoulder every time she entered or exited her apartment building, on the lookout for red hair and smug expressions. Second of all, her supervising teacher had developed a baffling tendency to find reasons not to leave the building until she herself was heading out the door. If it had been anybody else, she would have called his behavior “hovering”... but that seemed so inappropriate, considering who she was talking about. All in all, it was no wonder that Kaoru was frustrated and tired and a danger to innocent vegetables. Well, more of a danger than normal.

At least Yahiko was unlikely to notice that the carrots weren’t up to Iron Chef standards. And if he did, she could distract him by making comments about the spaghetti. Speaking of which, Kaoru realized that she should keep an eye on her little brother to make sure that he didn’t do anything irreparable to their dinner.

“Hey! No, wait, Yahiko; drain the spaghetti first, then strain the sauce! Trust me; you don’t want bits and pieces of the sauce to get mixed in with the spaghetti. Otherwise, there wouldn’t be any point in pouring the sauce through the sieve in the first place, right?”

“Should I be frightened that you’re giving me cooking advice that actually makes sense?” Yahiko asked, raising one eyebrow.

“Very, very possibly,” Kaoru replied calmly as she got out the plates and silverware. 

Since the spaghetti came from a package and the sauce came from a jar, dinner was actually reasonably edible. The fact that the salad looked like it had lost a valiant battle against a weed whacker went uncommented-on by both siblings. Yahiko offered to help clean up the kitchen, but Kaoru, who had a sneaking suspicion that Mr. Fujita was going to take out the strange mood he’d been in all week on the students by means of a pop quiz, told him to go study. 

“Are you sure? I mean...” he trailed off uncertainly. After years of being asked, ordered, and threatened, Yahiko was well-trained when it came to sharing dish duty. 

“Yes, Yahiko, I _really_ think it would behoove you to spend a little extra time on your homework tonight.”

“It would be what?” he asked, puzzled. Then his eyes widened and he nodded rapidly in dawning comprehension. “Um... well, if you think that I should be... I mean, if you think it’s a good idea, and you’re sure you don’t mind doing the dishes...”

“I have a hunch,” Kaoru said, “Call it a gut feeling based on previous experience, ok?” 

“Right!” he said. Without wasting another minute, Yahiko turned and sped off to his room, leaving Kaoru to deal with the dishes and her thoughts. 

No matter how much she tried to keep the latter under control, they kept winding back to the same basic question: _‘What am I going to do if he doesn’t come back?’_

After a week to think about it from every conceivable angle, Kaoru was annoyed to find that not only did she still not have an answer to that question, she hadn’t even been able to figure out what the question itself meant. 

What was she going to do if Kenshin didn’t come back, because that meant he was probably doing something horrible? 

What was she going to do if Kenshin didn’t come back, because that probably meant something horrible had happened to him? 

Should she be angry and frightened that he had gotten his sword back, or relieved that he at least had his sword with him? 

Would time away give him more space to reflect and decide that there were other girls he’d rather be backing into corners... and why wasn’t that thought making her happy at the prospect of her life becoming less complicated once he wasn’t randomly turning up? 

The one thing that was easier about Kenshin being around, Kaoru reflected, was that it at least gave her a target to aim her annoyance at. When he wasn’t there, her anger tended to get distracted by memories of things that he’d done that were...well... not annoying.... exactly... just... 

...distracting...

Kaoru yelped as she realized that the dishwater was overflowing out of the dishpan and that the kitchen was about to be overrun by bubbles. 

_‘OK, Kamiya, repeat after yourself three times: Distraction is not my friend, distraction is not my friend, distraction is NOT my friend...’_

Muttering under her breath, she got the water and soapsuds cleaned up and yelled up to her brother that she was heading back to her apartment. Seconds later, she heard him clattering down the steps, two at a time.

“Hey, Kaoru? Can you give me a ride over to the library? I just got off the phone with Yutaro, and, well, we thought it might be good to study together for a couple of hours, until they close.”

“Sure, but... how will you get back to the dojo afterwards?”

He shrugged. “If we leave a note for Dad, then I’ll call him from the library and have him pick me up. No big deal. And, um, if your hunch is right... well, two heads are better than one, and I would hate for Yutaro to be caught unprepared...”

Kaoru smiled. No matter how much her brother and his lab partner loved to insult each other, it was obvious that Yahiko felt it would be unfair not to share the possibility of a pop quiz with his friend.

“No problem, brat; just be ready to leave in five minutes. I am not a taxi service.” 

“Please, ugly, I can be ready in three.” And with that, Yahiko tore back up the stairs and grabbed his backpack, throwing his textbook and binder in with reckless abandon before he raced back down to where Kaoru was putting her jacket on, having scribbled a brief note to their father. 

She ruffled his hair affectionately, and then was out the door before he had a chance to respond. Rolling his eyes, Yahiko turned out the light and locked the door as Kaoru walked over to her car. He loved his sister, really he did, and he was glad that she was feeling better after whatever it was that had happened that weekend. Yahiko still didn’t have the details, but he was waiting for an opportunity to present itself. Kaoru had some pretty strong ideas about protecting her little brother, never mind that he wasn’t some kid anymore, and Yahiko knew that he was going to have to be fairly sneaky if he wanted to get any answers out of her. The short ride to the library might not leave much time for him to get anything out of her, but he could at least try. 

Planning his attack with the same concentration that he used when getting ready to spar, Yahiko began, “Hey, sis? Yutaro said his Dad could get the three of us special passes to see that exhibit at the History Museum. You know, the one about swords and sword-making through the ages? He said that since his Dad’s company is one of the major sponsors, he could get us in the day before it actually opens. That way, me and Yutaro could get a look at suff without a bunch of stupid schoolkids... I mean, those elementary class tours... getting in the way. It would be great for our project!”

Kaoru grinned. She should have known that Yutaro would persuade his father that something like that would be a good idea—purely for the sake of research, of course. The boy was just as much of a fan of historical swords as her little brother. In fact, she wouldn’t be surprised if it hadn’t been Yutaro’s passion for the subject that had inspired his father to sponsor the museum exhibit in the first place! 

“That would be a lot of fun, Yahiko. And, yes, I’d love to go along with you—as long as Yutaro’s Dad got me a ticket so that I could make sure you two didn’t start fencing in the exhibit hall, and not because he thought it was a way to get in good with his son’s teacher.” 

“Sheesh, ugly, don’t worry so much; of course it wasn’t—hey! What makes you think that Yutaro and me can’t behave ourselves?” 

Kaoru giggled as she turned a corner. “Because I know how obsessed the two of you are with all things sharp and pointy; why else would you have picked sword construction and forging as your big project topic, hmm?” 

“Speaking of swords... so, Kaoru, why did Grandpa put those paper charm things all over that old sword you had hidden under your bed?” 

For a second, Yahiko thought his grand interrogation plan was going to be cut short by Kaoru crashing into a mailbox. However, she quickly got herself and the car back under control and, in a voice that betrayed very little tension, answered “What do you mean? I mean, why would there be charms on a sword? It was just paper, Yahiko, because I didn’t want the fancy sheath and stuff to get damaged.” 

He snorted and crossed his arms. “Oh, right, you think I can’t recognize one of Grandpa’s charms when I see it? Have you forgotten that I’m the one he used to chase around the house with them whenever I had a cold? And that time I brought home that puppy? Kaoru, I’m not stupid. You brought a sword home from somewhere, and then spent a day with Grandpa in your room, which you know neither of us would have normally _ever_ done, no matter _how_ sick we were. Then it turns out that there’s a sword under your bed—a _real_ sword, not a practice one—wrapped up in so many of Grandpa’s crazy paper charms that he must have put them together specially just so he could have enough.” 

Kaoru’s fingers were clenched so tightly on the steering wheel that her knuckles were white. Her mouth was drawn into a tight line as she stared at the road almost without seeing it. Under other circumstances, this would have made him nervous; however, at the moment, it was exactly the sign he was looking for. 

Pressing the issue, he continued, “And all I had to do was tell that to Kenshin and he immediately knew where to look for that sword, Kaoru. How did he know that?” 

“I...” Kaoru started, then stopped and drew a deep breath. “Yahiko, this is really not a good time to have this conversation.” Before he could open his mouth to protest, she kept going. “But... but you’re right, Yahiko; you deserve an explanation. Only promise that you won’t tell Dad, ok? It would only worry him, and there’s no reason to.” 

Yahiko considered for a moment before he said, “Ok... I promise I won’t tell Dad. It seems like it’s going to be a complicated story, and there’s no point in worrying him. But you’d better explain everything soon, or all promises are off, agreed?”

“Agreed,” Kaoru answered, relieved. He was right; he deserved to know, after having been the one to help Kenshin find his sword. However, until Kaoru had had that discussion with Kenshin, she wouldn’t have complete answers to give to Yahiko.

_‘Oh frabjous day, calloo, callay... two conversations about demons and their swords that I really don’t want to have...’_

Yutaro was already waiting outside of the library, watching the sunset, when Kaoru pulled up to the entrance. She considered kissing her brother goodbye, but knew it would just be in order to embarrass him and so contended herself with saying, “Take care of yourself and don’t do anything I wouldn’t... I mean, don’t do anything like staying out too late on a school night, ok?” 

“Sheesh, ugly, you worry too much!” Yahiko snorted as he got out of the car, swinging his backpack around to carry it on one arm. He waved at Yutaro, and the two boys headed into the building together, talking animatedly about something or other. Kaoru smiled to herself as she drove out of the parking lot. She was glad that her brother had friends he could study with; it kind of reminded her of herself and Misao back when they were in school together. 

* * *

She sang along with the radio as she drove back towards her apartment. After she got gas, she looked at the clock and decided that she had time to do some grocery shopping before she headed home. In keeping with her standard strategy, she bought fresh fruit that she could cut up and have as a snack, whatever frozen dinners were on sale that week, mineral water, fruit juice, and several different jars of tomato sauce to go with the pasta supplies she’d gotten on her last grocery store run. Her cereal supplies were still ok, but she stocked up on coffee on general principle. As she was heading towards the checkout lane, a familiar voice called out, “Hey, missy—what are you doing shopping so late, hmm?” 

Turning around, she grinned cheerfully and said, “Well, you know, when it comes to grocery shopping, I prefer to just wait and see when the mood strikes me and then take care of it, rather than trying to plan things. What are you doing here, Sano?” 

He shrugged. “Just got off shift at the bar; Katsu’s closing tonight, so I figured that I would deal with grocery shopping for the week. Hey, do you still have that crockpot you borrowed from Megumi?” 

“It’s _my_ crockpot, Sano. She’s the one who keeps borrowing it from me.” 

Sano blinked. “You have a piece of kitchen equipment that’s not a microwave, blender, pot, or pan? I’m shocked.” 

Slightly miffed, Kaoru said, “What’s so surprising about—look, you put the food in in the morning, turn it on on low, and when you come home at night, your dinner is all done. I’m a big crockpot fan, especially in the winter. Although I’ve never tried anything complicated. The instruction manual had a recipe for stuffed quail.” 

“Please don’t ever try that, under any circumstances,” Sano implored. “Anyway, whoever the crockpot belongs to, could Megumi borrow it from you this weekend? She keeps muttering something about finding the time to start making chicken broth and freezing it for the winter... it’s a little disturbing, actually, but the results are always tasty, so I try to go with the flow.” 

“Sure, Megumi can borrow the crockpot. Again. Although tell her I don’t understand why she doesn’t just buy one, ok?”

“Oh, she’s got one. Did I mention that this is going to be a Project? As in, all weekend, chicken broth simmering in as many crockpots as she can borrow from friends, I’m going to be staying far away until it’s over, Project?” 

“Ah,” Kaoru said, nodding. She was familiar with Megumi’s cooking-related Projects. Sano was smart to have an escape planned. “Well, how soon does she want it? I mean, you can swing by tomorrow afternoon, maybe around four, if that works.”

“That’ll be fine!” Sano assured her. The two of them spent a while catching up while Sano shopped and Kaoru criticized his nutritional choices. 

By the time that they left, the stars were glimmering in the night sky and Kaoru could feel the faint nip of autumn in the air. She inhaled deeply before she remembered that fresh air was not usually to be found in the vicinity of supermarket parking lots. 

_‘Ugh.... motor oil is definitely not one of the scents of the season...’_

* * *

Balancing the groceries and the day’s mail, Kaoru headed up the stairs to her apartment. She had taken a quick shower after that afternoon’s practice, so that meant she could spend an hour or so working before she turned in for the night. Since she didn’t have any class work for the evening, Kaoru had decided to spend her time on her _other_ research project. While Kenshin had been away, she had tried to organize whatever other information she could learn about him—the way that he seemed to have no difficulties getting into and out of a locked dressing room, for example, or showing up in her bedroom. She wasn’t quite sure what to make of the fact that it was apparently her nightmare that had woken him up and called to him, but she had made a note of it nonetheless. 

_‘The most important thing that I need to do right now is come up with questions to ask him when we have our... discussion.... I mean, what were his orders in High School? Were they the same in Sano’s school? What is he up to now? Where did he get that other scar on his cheek, when neither of the other wounds I gave him scarred?’_

Kaoru sighed as she unlocked her door. The same questions kept going around and around in her brain, even after she’d written them down in an attempt to get rid of them. In fact, the more questions she wrote down, the more questions she seemed to have. 

_‘Well, I suppose we at least will have plenty to talk about...’_ she thought as she went to put the groceries away and get ready for bed. 

_‘Fresh fruit into the fridge, frozen dinners into the freezer... wow... I think the frozen dinners have been multiplying in my absence; I hope that these all fit... note to self; no more frozen dinner purchases in the near future.... sauce in the pantry... books onto my desk... Kenshin on my couch... coffee next to the coffeemaker... wait a minute...’_

Kaoru blinked. _‘One of these things is not like the others...and I don’t think it belongs here...’_

He was sprawled out and slightly curled around the pillows like an oversized cat. If she wasn’t so annoyed that he’d found his way into her apartment without so much as a by-your-leave, especially this late, she would have found it almost... cute. 

_‘He better not be drooling on my pillows...’_

Sighing, Kaoru tried to figure out what to do next. Kenshin was back, but it didn’t look like he was in any condition to have a productive discussion. Truth be told, neither was she. What she really wanted to do was make herself a cup of tea and sit down to keep working on her notes for another half-hour or so before relaxing with some light reading and the news, and then attempting to get some much-needed sleep. The problem was, of course, that it felt extremely odd to sit at her desk and write things like, “How long did it take to get over being dead?” when Kenshin was in the room with her. She bit her lip thoughtfully and approached the couch. 

“Um... Kenshin?” Kaoru began, “You should wake up and go home now, ok? I mean, I’m glad to know that you’re back...” 

She blinked. Glad to know...? Stopping a few steps before the couch, Kaoru thought about what she had just said. Was she glad to know that Kenshin was back? 

Well... yes. Although, as she was quick to remind herself, that could just be because if he was sleeping on her couch it meant that he wasn’t out wreaking havoc. It didn’t necessarily mean that she was glad that he was on her couch, just glad that she knew where he was and what he was, or rather, what he _wasn’t_ doing. Kaoru nodded resolutely. That made sense. 

She moved a pile of magazines out of the way so that she could perch on the coffee table and continue her efforts to wake Kenshin up. Up close, she could see his chest rise and fall with the rhythm of his breathing, and the way his hair was falling over his face. Kaoru frowned slightly. She was fairly sure it wasn’t her imagination that his skin was even paler than normal, throwing his scar into sharp relief, and there were shadows under his eyes that hadn’t been there before. 

_‘What on earth has he been doing to himself? He’s supposed to be all demonic and have supernatural abilities and that sort of thing.... he looks worse than I used to after a night of cramming for a calculus final....’_

“Kenshin?” she tried again “You’re on my couch, you know. I was planning on using it at some point, and that’s going to be difficult if you stay there... So you should wake up now and go home, ok?” Getting no response except something that might have been a vague murmur and a slight shift in his position, she tried poking him in the shoulder. Then she poked him again, harder.

Nothing happened. 

_‘Still dead to the world... so to speak,’_ Kaoru thought with a trace of exasperation. _‘And I can’t very well throw a bucket of water over him while he’s holding my couch hostage...’_ Absent-mindedly reaching her hand out to smooth his unruly bangs away from his face, Kaoru remarked, “You know, I really don’t see wh--eep!” 

Whether it was her voice or the feeling of her fingers, something in Kenshin had clearly registered that she was there, because Kaoru suddenly found herself sprawled on top of Kenshin on her couch, his arms around her as he tucked her against his chest and made a noise that sounded sleepily content. 

_‘Darn it, I am NOT a teddy bear!’_ Kaoru thought to herself in annoyance. Out loud, she said, “Kenshin! Kenshin, you need to wake up. And let go. Mostly let go, and then if you really _want_ to stay here on my couch, which is nowhere near as comfortable as your bed... um... I mean, I imagine... well, I mean, I _know_ that it’s not, not that I’ve been thinking about it, and... Kenshin, you can’t possibly be _so_ exhausted that nothing I’ve just said woke you up to make sarcastic remarks!” 

The only response that Kaoru got was a slight shift in Kenshin’s position so that he was even closer, and his breath stirred her hair. Her legs had somehow wound up half on the couch as well, and Kaoru winced as she realized that she was going to have to bring them up the rest of the way or face severe back pain in the morning. Grumbling under her breath, she adjusted herself so that her legs were comfortable. The fact that she kicked Kenshin in the ankle as part of the process was not even entirely on purpose. However, instead of waking him up, it resulted in him moving one of his legs so that it lay over hers, so that she was being very thoroughly and completely cuddled.

“Oh, great, and I thought you were annoying and clingy when you were awake,” Kaoru groused. “You know, you can’t expect me to just take this lying down... I mean, you can’t expect that I’m just going to lie here and...” she broke off with a yawn. ‘ _Dammit... what is this, some kind of sneak demonic sleepiness attack?_ ’ 

“Ok, Kenshin, just because I can’t kick you properly doesn’t mean that I can’t figure out a way to wake you up. And the only reason I’m not screaming is because it would hurt _my_ ears, and because I have a suspicion that you are the type of guy who’ll go from asleep to attack in 0.1 seconds and I don’t want to deal with that if I startle you. I’m saving it as a last resort in case my other brilliant tactics fail.... although, if you grope me in your sleep, mister, you’d better believe that I’m going to scream!” 

Fortunately, Kenshin’s hands showed no inclination to migrate in his sleep. Letting out a sigh, Kaoru tried to think past the sound of his heartbeat echoing through her and the way that he still smelled of ginger and wilderness in spite of his obvious exhaustion. She poked him a couple more times, even though she couldn’t really get a good angle with the way he was cradling her against him, and tried to see if she could get her hands on enough of his hair to yank on it. 

She yawned again and shifted to make herself more comfortable before realizing what she was doing. 

“Ok, now _that_ is just ridiculous,” Kaoru said firmly, still hoping that her voice would poke Kenshin into wakefulness if she couldn’t manage it any other way. “Alright, Kaoru, you can do this; just think of it like jujitsu... just a martial arts exercise in getting out of a hold....” 

She squirmed slightly in her attempt to find a way to get the leverage she needed, then froze as her efforts resulted in Kenshin’s arms tightening around her, one hand slipping far enough down her back that she let out an involuntary squeak and had to work to calm the suddenly rapid beating of her heart. Catching sight of the clock on her wall, she glared as if it was responsible for how much time had passed since she’d started trying to wake Kenshin. Yawning again, she rested her head and tried to think. Since her brain seemed to keep making comments about how warm and comfortable it was right where she was rather than helping her come up with a plan to get out of the situation, it took some effort. Especially since Kenshin’s reaction to her resting her head seemed to be to tuck his own head down so that he could nuzzle against her hair. 

“I am _not_ comfortable,” Kaoru told herself firmly, “and I refuse to let my brain tell me that I a---“ she yawned,” that I am. And as soon as I figure out a way to get out of this, I will... right? Of course right.”

She idly wondered if she should carry out her earlier plan of screaming, but it was awfully hard to find the energy when her body was relaxing against Kenshin’s, when his heartbeat was lazily echoing through her, making her eyelids drift shut of their own accord. Kaoru made a noise somewhere between a sigh and a yawn, and attempted to free herself with another wiggle that, even in her half-awake state, she knew was somewhat half-hearted. Kenshin shifted slightly and murmured something indistinguishable in a low voice that she could feel rumbling deep and comforting in his chest. It scattered her thoughts even further, and she found it hard to remember why she couldn’t just stay where she was and let his warmth surround her and lull her to sleep. 

“Ken... shin...” she yawned again “You... need to... wake...we can’t... this... isn’t...” her voice trailed off as Kaoru found it impossible to keep her eyes open or resist the pull of the sleep that was lurking in the darkness behind her closed eyes.

* * *

“Hey, Yahiko? You want a ride home?” Yutaro asked as the two boys were packing up their books. 

“Na... I’m gonna stick around for another half hour, until they close. I want to get a jump-start on that Social Studies project. Don’t worry, I’m gonna call Dad to come pick me up. Sis left him a note about it.” 

With a shrug, Yutaro picked up his backpack. “Ok. You really think we’re going to have a pop quiz?”

“Well, she didn’t say anything specific—I mean, I think she wouldn’t think that was fair, you know? But she hinted that she suspected something, and I trust her instincts? Anyway, better safe than sorry.” 

“In that class? Definitely. See you tomorrow!” And with that, Yutaro headed off to where his father’s driver was waiting with the car. Yahiko went back into the stacks where the books about South America lurked. He was glad that he’d met up with Yutaro at the library rather than at his lab partner’s house; true, he was going to have to call his Dad for a ride, but at least he could save himself a trip later in the week. He’d already raided the school library, and found their selection to be not exactly what he needed. When the second closing bell rang, Yahiko had managed to find enough books to fill his backpack, and had even copied a couple of magazine articles. He checked everything out and headed out to the payphone to call for a ride, waving to the librarian as her car pulled out of the parking lot. 

Picking up the receiver, Yahiko was halfway through dialing before he realized that it was not actually connected to the phone anymore. Blinking, he looked down to where the cord had apparently been cut, and swore. 

_‘Ha ha, very funny, slice the phone cord. Idiots.... Now what am I supposed to do?’_

If he had had his bike with him, it would have been an easy ten-minute ride back home. Without it, though.... he grimaced. 

_‘Wait or walk? That is the question... I mean, if I don’t show up, Dad will figure out that he should check the library... eventually... but probably not for another hour or so.... by which time I could be home already... well-lit, well-traveled streets I wouldn’t be afraid to bike down versus staying in the parking lot here, where the morons who think it’s fun to cut phone cords might show up again... yeah... looks like it’s time to head on home...’_

Shouldering his backpack, Yahiko turned and walked out of the parking lot. This was just great. Walking was going to take twice as long as biking would have, unless he took the shortcut through the park, and he wasn’t stupid enough to do that when it was dark out. He put his collar up against the slight chill in the air and proceeded to walk briskly along the sidewalk. 

There was very little traffic in the neighborhood, probably because it was a weeknight. The streetlights shone down and made puddles of light on the sidewalk, except for the ones that were broken. The one on the corner where Yahiko turned flickered on and off and he wondered if the city was ever going to get around to repairing it. It had been that way for as long as he could remember going back and forth to the library on his own or with Kaoru accompanying him.

Yahiko whistled absently to himself, some song he’d been hearing on the radio recently but didn’t even know the name of. There was a faint noise like a bird screeching from somewhere behind him, but he ignored it. 

_‘Stupid crows... they never know when to shut up...’_ he thought to himself. 

Then there was a sudden noise like a rush of wings overhead, and he barely had time to duck before _something_ passed close by, a mere shadow in the darkness, so close he felt like he could reach out and touch it. Except of course for the fact that he really didn’t want to reach out and touch anything. 

Eyes wide, Yahiko half-turned and stumbled backwards as that screeching sound echoed again. This time, he heard the noise of... whatever it was... approaching again, and was able to throw himself out of the way and pivot so that he could take off in a different direction, running away from the noise that was once again echoing behind him. Acting on instinct, he zigzagged rather than running in a straight line. 

It took him several yards of blind running to realize that he’d run into the park, where the faint lights along the pathways did little to dispel the darkness, and where the trees provided excellent cover for... for _whatever_ was probably even now planning on swooping at him again as soon as he slowed down.

On the other hand, Yahiko realized, he couldn’t sprint through the whole park and all the way home, especially not while carrying a full backpack. Better to save his energy for when he might need it. Slowing down and catching his breath, he nonetheless kept moving, staying alert for any suspicious sounds. 

_‘Of course, now that I’m in the stupid park, that means keeping alert for any more ground-based, two-legged predators... great. Just great. And I don’t have my bokken with me.’_

Settling into a rapid walk, Yahiko scowled as he heard a sound suspiciously like a mocking, screeching laugh from somewhere behind him. 

_‘Oh, sure, hunt me and now laugh at me, like this is some sort of stupid game, scare the kid with the backpack—what do they think I am, twelve? I’m almost an Assistant Master! I can hold my own in a fight... when I have my weapon and am not being attacked from the –HELL!”_

There was almost no warning, just the sensation of the air being displaced, and Yahiko barely had time to throw himself onto the ground. There was a slight ripping noise that Yahiko hoped wasn’t the main part of his backpack, and he hit the ground awkwardly, his palms stinging from the impact. He could also feel a sticky warmth on his forehead that indicated that the bush he’d partially fallen into had exacted its revenge. 

It was almost worse that there was no immediate follow-up attack, just a sense of something lurking and waiting for him to stand up again. Gritting his teeth, Yahiko tried to think of options other than just standing up and waiting to be attacked again like an idiot. He estimated that he was about halfway through the park, and from there just a block and a half remained until he reached the dojo. On the other hand, he really wasn’t sure running straight home was a good idea, not when he didn’t know what exactly was chasing him.

_‘With my luck, this will turn into some sort of Alfred Hitchcock barricade yourself in the house and board up the windows and look out for seagulls thing...’_

Wincing as the scrapes on his palms made contact with what felt like gravel and dirt, Yahiko pushed himself up enough to look around and get an idea for his surroundings. It was too dark for him to really be able to see much, but by running his hand over the ground he found that there was a fair-sized branch nearby. He hoped that it wasn’t too rotten, or too big for him to pick up easily. Taking a deep breath, Yahiko rolled slightly and stood up, holding the branch in front of him.

The response was almost immediate. There was another screech that approached him rapidly from behind, combined with a noise like wings pulling in for an approach, and Yahiko ducked and struck in one motion that wasn’t exactly fluid, but which seemed to work. He felt the shock of contact all along his arms, and the screeching noise came to an abrupt end as something dark and heavy was sent spinning backwards. There was a set of noises that seemed to indicate that whatever it was had smacked into the trunk of the nearest tree. Yahiko didn’t wait to find out if that was the case; instead, he dropped the branch and took off, sprinting as fast as he could for the exit and the street outside of the park. The closest street wasn’t actually the one that they lived on, but that was ok. He actually felt better about not running in a straight line for his own front door. 

The rest of the way home was free of strange rustling noises, weird screeches, or anything else that seemed like it might leap out of the bushes at him. Yahiko was relieved. True, he doubted he could have sprinted as quickly if he’d been carrying the branch, but he hadn’t liked the fact that dropping it had left him without a weapon. When he reached the corner near the house, he paused and counted to twenty, just to make sure that nothing had been following him. When he didn’t hear anything suspicious, he kept going.

Of course, his first destination was the dojo storage room, where he picked up his bokken before he headed into the house. 

“Hey, Dad? Yutaro and I finished up at the library, and now I’m home!” Yahiko called out, hoping that his father would assume he’d gotten a ride with the other boy. It wasn’t _exactly_ a lie the way that he’d phrased it, he reasoned, and it was definitely better than mentioning that he’d walked home alone after dark, even without bringing in the attack of the crazed bird-people or... or whatever that had been.

There was a mild affirmative noise from the direction of the living room, where the elder Kamiya was engaged in reading the newspaper. Yahiko dropped his backpack off in his room and winced at the sight of the tear in the outer pocket. It was a good thing he had put his wallet in his jacket instead of in the backpack where he usually did. Heading into the bathroom, Yahiko hunted down the antiseptic for his hands and forehead. The scrape on his head was shallow, fortunately, but the way that it had bled made him glad that he hadn’t stopped in to say hello to their dad. His hands needed to be washed thoroughly, to get rid of any trace of dirt or bits of gravel, then he applied the cream to his palms and forehead. The head cut was easy to bandage, but he really didn’t know what to do about his hands. Finally, he settled for long strips of gauze over the antiseptic cream.

_‘Looks like I should be stumbling around Ancient Egypt muttering about curses, but it’ll do for overnight. Oh, great, how am I supposed to shower with these bandages? They’ll just have to come off beforehand. Probably for the best; can’t go to school looking like this._

He yelled down that he was going to get ready for bed, waited for another affirmative noise, and carefully unpacked everything from his bag. Obviously, he was going to have to take a different backpack to school tomorrow, and he might as well get everything switched over right away, before he forgot. Mornings were not really his best time of the day, and there was a good chance he’d run off with the damaged bag and not notice until somebody pointed it out to him. Once he was done, Yahiko sat down on the floor and leaned against the side of the bed, deep in thought.

_‘Well, that makes two weird supernatural occurrences in as many weeks. No way that flying weirdo isn’t connected to whatever was up with that sword. I mean, if he isn’t, then I’ll... I’ll... I won’t complain about Ugly’s cooking for a whole year!’_

It looked like Kaoru was going to have more questions to answer than just about that sword. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Chapter: Kaoru wonders if it counts as deja vu if she really does keep having the same experience over and over and over again...  
> In this chapter I don’t own: Lewis Carroll’s poem “Jabberwocky” (“O frabjous day, calloo, callay...”). My mother used to have a crockpot cookbook that included a recipe for stuffed quail, but I never have (good thing, too). I also don’t own the song “One of these things is not like the others,” which I believe was from “Sesame Street,” or the “To be or not to be? That is the question...” speech from “Hamlet.”


	25. Java Jive

For someone who normally snapped from sleeping to fully alert, waking up slowly was a disconcerting experience. He knew that it was a strange state for him to find himself in, but even so it took Kenshin several long minutes before he was able to get his brain to provide any information past “warm,” “comfortable,” and “jasmine.” When he opened his eyes, he found himself looking at an unfamiliar ceiling. The pieces didn’t come together until he looked down to see a familiar head of ink-black hair lying across his chest.

_‘Kaoru... Kaoru’s living room, on Kaoru’s couch.... came back last night to try to talk to her; only sat down for a moment...’_

He winced slightly. Obviously, he had been more exhausted than he’d thought. The moment of sitting down had somehow resulted in his falling asleep on her couch. How exactly that had led to his waking up with a Kaoru-blanket still wasn’t entirely clear. Not that he could say he minded, of course. One of her hands was clutching his shoulder while her other arm curved around his side, and her legs were tangled with his. The way that the rest of her body was pressed against him on the narrow surface of the couch made him wonder why he hadn’t woken up much sooner. Her breathing was deep and even, completely relaxed as she sprawled on top of him. Kenshin smiled. However they had ended up in this situation, Kaoru clearly had no problem with it. Well, not while she was still asleep. In fact, the several nights that they had spent together in similar positions had already demonstrated that. It was just a question of getting her to admit that when they were both awake.

_‘Now what are the odds that the first thing she does once she wakes up is try to smack my shoulder again?’_ he thought to himself with some amusement. Taking advantage of Kaoru’s slumbering state, he shifted so that he could run his hands up and down her back, trying to get rid of some of the tension he could feel there even in sleep. She stirred slightly and sleepily murmured something that he couldn’t quite catch before she settled again with a contented sigh.

“Oh, kitten, I could get used to this...” Kenshin murmured to himself. “However, since it’s a workday....” In a louder tone, he continued, “Kaoru? Kaoru, you need to wake up now. And try not to hit me right away, ok?”

“Mmmm.......?” Kaoru answered sleepily in response to the sound of her name. He could practically see her waking up, her brow furrowing slightly as she tried to piece her circumstances together. She stretched slightly and blinked sleepy blue eyes. Deciding that the best defense was a good offense, Kenshin said, “Morning, kitten. Time to get up. Would you like to shower and get ready for work while I fix us some breakfast?”

“Mmmm?” Kaoru said again as she looked at him, her expression still slightly confused as she worked to put the pieces together. He almost laughed, but since he was working to keep his voice and features neutral and his body under control, he didn’t. Instead, he just repeated, “If you let me up, I can fix us some breakfast and then you can head off to work. I’m sorry that we didn’t get a chance to talk last night, but I guess I fell asleep.”

_‘Fell asleep...’_ Kaoru suddenly blinked more forcefully as she came fully awake and remembered the events of the previous night that had led to her waking up in Kenshin’s arms. Again. This was starting to get seriously annoying. Not to mention the fact that Kenshin was looking at her with an expression which said that he was just waiting for her to try to smack him again. Glaring at him, she raised her chin, took a deep breath, and said, “Let go. Now. And don’t think I’m going to forget that this entire mess is _your_ fault, you... you... snuggle-obsessed, couch-stealing, overly self-confident, thinks-cooking-breakfast-will-get-him-out-of-trouble...”

Kenshin’s mouth quirked up in a way that made her glare even more fiercely. Schooling his expression, he said, “I didn’t mean to steal your couch. It’s just that I was waiting for you to come home so that we could at least start having that discussion we talked about before, remember?” 

“And this relates to you’re not hearing me say “Let go” how exactly?” she replied snappishly. “You can’t wake me up by reminding me that I have to get ready for work and then _not_ let me get ready to go to work, unless you’re feeling particularly sadistic this morning after that sneak grab attack last night when I was just trying to wake you up so that you could go _home_ , where you should be right now, instead of here bothering innocent people whose apartments you seem to keep sneaking into! And stop waiting for me to smack you; it’s ridiculous.” 

At that, he did laugh. On the other hand, he also let go. Kaoru was up and off of the couch as fast as she could scramble. As she turned sharply to head towards the bedroom so that she could shower and get her work outfit together, she said, “You can do whatever you want about breakfast, but don’t expect me to take the time to eat that much. Some of us are on a schedule, you know.” 

Lazily stretching, Kenshin remarked after her retreating form, “Kitten, have I ever told you how much I enjoy watching you stomp away like that?”

“SO going to kill you, permanently, as soon as I finish figuring out how!” she sing-songed back at him before closing the door. 

As Kenshin stood up and headed towards the kitchen, he couldn’t suppress a broad grin. One of the many things that he enjoyed about waking up with Kaoru in his arms, no matter where they were, was the way that she went from being bonelessly curled against him to her eyes shooting sparks at him. Not that he didn’t relish her curled up against him; in fact, he was rapidly coming to the conclusion that it was addictive. It also indicated a level of comfort with him that he was sure she didn’t quite realize she was showing. 

_‘Even when she wakes up, she’s not afraid of me...’_ he thought to himself. It was something that he still couldn’t think about without a sense of something like awe. He knew what he was; he had no illusions about what he did. He’d experienced the full range of human reactions to it in the course of his career. Kaoru snapped back at him, she hit him, she melted into his kisses and returned them with equal fervor... but she didn’t cower, and she never had. Even when she had seen him kill, even when she had known that he was hunting her, she hadn’t been paralyzed with fear. 

Kenshin began his search of Kaoru’s cupboards almost absent-mindedly, looking for something he could use to make a decent breakfast for the two of them. He smiled at the memory of the girl he’d pulled out of that closet. No, Kaoru had been the opposite of paralyzed. And now... even though her attacks had been limited to verbal ones, at least so far, she was clearly showing that same spark. 

_‘Let’s see... Lucky Charms.... Cap’n Crunch.... Froot Loops... good grief, does she not have anything that consists almost completely of preservatives and sugar? One of these days, I really should just clean out her cupboards and make sure she has healthier food. If I recruit Megumi to put together a slide show of what happens when you don’t eat properly, I should even be able to avoid getting inconveniently killed... probably.’_

Looking at the coffee machine, Kenshin suddenly realized that, whatever had happened the previous night, Kaoru obviously hadn’t had time to fill and set it. He blinked. She must have tried to wake him up as soon as she saw him, and then... Kenshin smiled to himself as he reconstructed what must have happened. 

If she had stayed snuggled on the couch with him and fallen asleep rather than thinking about her morning coffee supply, the situation was clearly even more hopeful than he had thought. As for the coffee... well, that was easy enough to take care of before she got out of the shower. 

As he got out the coffee, he wondered if Kaoru realized that even when she was awake and reacting to him like a very peeved hedgehog, she wasn’t uncomfortable around him. True, there was a kind of prickliness, and a limitless supply of sarcasm, but the fact that she bantered with him the way that she did clearly meant that she wasn’t afraid or nervous. Not the ways that he was used to. The only thing that he didn’t quite understand was the fact that she occasionally seemed confused by him. 

Once the vital caffeine supplies for the morning had been taken care of, Kenshin went over to Kaoru’s cupboards and got out plates and mugs, humming softly to himself. It was while he was putting everything on the table that he realized how much less exhausted he was this morning than he had been the previous evening. 

_‘And I don’t think I can give the credit to Kaoru’s couch,’_ Kenshin thought to himself, amused. Idly, he wondered what his Master would have to say about his renewed energy level. _‘With my luck, he’d order me to sleep with Kaoru every night, just to make sure I stay in top shape during this mission.’_

He blinked suddenly, mug in hand, and ran that thought through his mind again. _‘Err... I mean, with my luck, he’d order me to just sleep with her... and he’d completely neglect to ask her opinion on the matter, and I won’t know anything about the situation until I come home one evening to an angry Kaoru spell-trapped in my bed and unable to get more than two feet away from it... and then I’d have to spend the entire night apologizing...’_

There was a long, distracted pause.

_‘This is NOT taking care of breakfast, Himura. Get a hold of yourself and check if Kaoru has any eggs in the refrigerator that aren’t going to make a break for it the minute you open the door.’_

If it hadn’t been for the fact that she was slightly worried about being late for work, Kaoru would have deliberately stayed in the shower until she was sure that Kenshin had left. However, since she knew she had a limited amount of time, even though driving was definitely faster than biking, Kaoru showered quickly and threw on the first professional-looking outfit she found in her closet. 

_‘I can’t believe that I just spent the night sleeping with Kenshin! AGAIN! What is wrong with me? He is not safe; he is not comfortable... ok, fine, he was comfortable, I guess... I mean... I slept, but that doesn’t mean I couldn’t have curled up on my own and slept just as well, darn it!’_

All things considered, Kaoru wasn’t surprised that she was looking forward to her day at work much more than she normally did. 

Rather than strolling around in her apartment in the low heels she had picked for the day, she slipped on her fluffy purple slippers and went out into the kitchen to get breakfast. It really didn’t surprise her that Kenshin was just pouring coffee for both of them and that there were glasses of orange juice, several different yogurt options, and a plate with perfectly-buttered slices of toast already on the table. 

Without even turning around, Kenshin said, “I didn’t have time to put together anything more complicated, but I know that you want to eat quickly. You can feel free to take some of the yogurt to school if you’d prefer.” 

As he was turning to bring the coffee to the table, his eyes ran over her outfit and paused briefly on her feet. “Those will definitely make an impression on the students,” he commented, grinning at her with eyes full of mischievous sparks. 

“Your sense of humor has neither sense nor humor; has anybody ever told you that?” Kaoru remarked. She picked up a piece of toast and started munching absent-mindedly as she wandered back out to start putting her things in order for work. She frowned down at her half-packed bag, furrowing her brow as she thought about exactly what she needed for her day to be productive. It was a better use of her mental energy than wondering where on earth Kenshin had gotten orange juice and yogurt. 

“Coffee?” 

“Uh-huh...” Kaoru replied absent-mindedly, taking the mug and drinking half of it before she realized what she was doing. 

_‘Stupid... why do my mornings keep turning into some kind of Ozzy and Harriet routine... except that Ozzy never cooked. I think. And Kenshin does, which continues to be disconcerting... I mean, if it weren’t for the slaughtering of innocent people, he would be a really... NO! There will be NO thinking boyfriendy thoughts about the evil demon! Even if he’s... even if I’ve admitted that I find him... good looks are not everything. Nor is the ability to cook. Or the way that he kisses... Would it be too obvious if I just started hitting myself with the coffee mug?’_

Kenshin opened his mouth to say something, but before he could, the phone rang. Putting her mug down on the desk, Kaoru went to answer it. 

“Hello, Kao--.” Before she could even finish her name, whoever was on the other end of the line had clearly started talking. “Yah—wha--“ Kaoru began, then stopped, her hands clenching the phone cord as she listened. 

“Kaoru?” Kenshin asked, catching a glimpse of her expression, the way that her knuckles were white and her jaw tense. She didn’t answer; in fact, he wasn’t even sure that she heard him. Whoever was on the other end of the line—he assumed it was her brother, from the one syllable she’d managed to get out—was clearly not letting Kaoru get a word in edgewise, caught up in whatever they were saying.

After several minute of Kaoru listening, her hands twisting in the phone cord, stormclouds gathering in her expression, she finally spoke again, with a violence that shattered the quiet of the apartment. 

“ _NO!_ You stay there, you don’t leave; I’m coming to pick you up. Do not argue with me about this, Yahiko. And we are going to have a conversation about the fact that you went back to the... I don’t care that it’s light out now, you should _not_ have done that. Oh, never mind, this isn’t the time to argue about this. You stay there, and I will be over in ten minutes.” 

When she put the phone down, with careful deliberation, Kenshin could practically see how much effort it was taking her not to slam the receiver down violently. She was almost trembling with the force of her emotions, and he approached cautiously, not sure if she was more likely to spook or snarl. 

“Kaoru?” he asked quietly. 

For a moment, he thought that she hadn’t heard him. Her breathing was still slightly uneven, her jaw and hands clenched. 

Finally, just when he was about to repeat himself, she said, “Something went after my brother. Last night, on his way home from the library. Something _went after my brother_.” Her tone was fierce and when she turned to face him her eyes were blazing. 

Amber flared in his own eyes as he looked at her, and he nodded curtly. “Does he know what it was?” The way that Kaoru had phrased her statement clearly indicated that she was talking about something more than the boy just being hassled by a gang or bothered on the street. If it was something other than that... if it was something other than that, then he needed to know about it, and he needed to know as much and as soon as possible. 

“No, not exactly,” Kaoru said. She turned and began to finish packing everything into her purse, her movements curt and forceful. “He was supposed to call Dad to give him a ride, but the phone was broken. Everybody else had already left the library, so he decided that it was better to walk home than wait until Dad noticed he was gone. Yahiko said that something came at him from behind, from _above_ ; something that shrieked at him and kept swooping down at him. It... it _hunted_ him into the park, and then...” She took a deep breath, clearly getting herself back under control. “It knocked him over, but he was able to pick up a branch and hit it when it came back at him. Then he ran back home. And this morning, he went back to the park to see if he could find anything.” Her tone on the last sentence clearly indicated that she was not done talking with her brother about _that_ particular move. 

Kenshin exhaled slowly. Her eyes flicked up towards him and she said, “Kenshin. Do you know what it was?” It wasn’t exactly a question. 

Choosing his words carefully, Kenshin replied, “It sounds like something that I’m... familiar with. In fact, it sounds like part of the reason why I’ve been gone this past week. I’ll need to go to the library and the park to make sure.” 

She noticed that he didn’t make any promises, didn’t offer platitudes. She was actually glad of it, because she was fairly sure any attempt of his to offer comfort would have resulted in violence that she really didn’t have time for right now.

Nodding slowly, Kaoru said, “Alright... do you need Yahiko and me to go with you after school? Part of her couldn’t believe that she was asking, but this was _her family_ she was talking about, and she would have braved far worse than demons to keep them safe. That didn’t mean that she would send Yahiko off alone with Kenshin, but she recognized that Kenshin was more likely to be qualified to deal with whatever had hurt her little brother. The fact that she would insist on going along would also mean that she wouldn’t have to beat the answers out of either one of them later. 

“No, that’s alright,” Kenshin answered, his tone serious. “The library and the park are enough for me to go on, and I don’t want to drag the two of you out of school.” 

Kaoru’s eyes narrowed. “Just because you’re right about that last bit doesn’t mean that I don’t suspect you’re using it as an excuse to keep us away from the site of the attack.” 

“What makes you think that?” he asked calmly, one eyebrow raised. 

One corner of her mouth quirked up slightly. “I would have done the same thing if my idiot brother hadn’t already decided to go back there at the crack of dawn on his own.” 

Kenshin’s expression mirrored hers for a minute before he went back to looking serious. “Kaoru... I can’t stop you from going back to the park, but I would request that you let me look into this for now. In all honesty, I don’t think that... whatever it was... is still there, and definitely not during the daytime.” 

Tilting her head, she looked at him consideringly. “Alright. But you had better tell me whatever you find out, _and_ what makes you so sure that you know what it is. Because if you don’t, I will go back there on my own and stake out the park at night by myself until I figure it out.” 

He held her eyes with his for a long moment, but she neither blinked nor looked away from that amber gaze. Then he nodded, once, slowly. 

“I’ll tell you. And Yahiko as well, if that is what you want.” 

She let out a long breath and said, “OK. Good. I have to go to pick up Yahiko and then go to school. Don’t worry about anything from breakfast; I’ll take care of it later. Do... do you want me to ask him anything else? Or do you want to ask him anything yourself?” 

Kenshin shook his head. Kaoru once again said, “OK,” and turned to leave. Halfway to the door she stopped and said, “Kenshin? Is... is it possible that this is something to do with you getting your sword back, with Yahiko being there?”

“No.” His reply was swift and decisive, recognizing the tension behind her question. Kaoru had obviously done what she did with his sword because she wanted to keep people from being hurt, and she was clearly upset at the thought that it was precisely those precautions that could have let danger close to the people who were most important in her life. 

“The charms that your grandfather used did their job; it took me a while to figure out what was going on even when I was in the same room. And once I had it back in my hands, then nothing else could have picked up on it.” After a slight pause, he continued, “It wasn’t anything to do with my sword; you don’t need to worry that it was anything like that. If I’m right... if it was what I think it was, then Yahiko was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, nothing more.” 

“Somehow, that doesn’t _entirely_ make me feel better,” Kaoru mused. _‘Of all the genetic traits my brother and I could share, why couldn’t it have been eye color? Why do we both have to have a proclivity for attracting demonic interest? I mean, it’s not like we go looking for it. I mean, I certainly never go looking for it, and yet, demons keep turning up. Well, one of them, anyway. Which, frankly, is more than enough.’_

It was on the tip of her tongue to ask Kenshin what they were going to do about the discussion they had agreed to have, but Kaoru really didn’t want to distract him. He was thinking about Yahiko’s attacker, she was sure of it; as far as she was concerned, there was nothing more important than that at the moment. 

Anything else could wait. 

Besides which, she reasoned as she headed down the stairs, waiting would give her more time to plot out constructively violent responses, in case they became necessary. 

* * *

Five seconds before the doorbell rang, Aoshi stirred and moved to sit up. Misao made an inquiring noise in the back of her throat, but he kissed her lightly on the forehead and murmured, “It’s alright; go back to sleep,” before rolling her gently over onto the pillows. His mouth curled up in a faint smile at the way she snuggled around the pillow he had just been lying against, and he pulled the blankets carefully up around her shoulders before he found and pulled on his clothes. 

As he opened the door, Aoshi said, “Yes, Himura?” His tone was as even as always, and if there was any undertone of annoyance at being dragged out of his bed, it was almost too faint to notice. 

“I’m sorry to disturb you,” Kenshin answered, in response to the things Aoshi hadn’t said, “but something has come up. How soon can you meet me over at the city library?” 

“I can be there in a half an hour,” the taller man said, “An answer which would have been the same if you had called rather than bothering to come all the way over here, by the way.” 

_‘In which case we could have both been there already...’_ went unspoken, and Kenshin found himself simultaneously holding back a glare and refraining from rolling his eyes. Instead, he merely nodded courteously and thanked Aoshi before heading back out of the building. 

_‘No sense in wasting time waiting for him,_ ’ Kenshin thought to himself. He had barely stopped to change his clothes and get whatever he thought he might need back before he had gone to get Aoshi. His mind had been focused on what Kaoru had told him about her little brother getting attacked, the specific details and the pattern demonstrated.

If he was right.... 

_‘If I’m right, then Yahiko getting attacked could turn out to be very, very useful. Although I probably shouldn’t put it that way when I tell Kaoru about it.’_

Kenshin’s mouth quirked up slightly at one corner as he pushed open the door to the dark parking garage and headed into the shadows.

_‘Getting killed again right now really would be dreadfully inconvenient...’_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Chapter: Shocking revelations! Startling realizations! Exclamation points! And... a theme for the Halloween Party! 
> 
> Author Note: Umm.. errr... they’ll have a discussion eventually, honest! Put the tar down and back away from the feathers! 
> 
> In this chapter I don’t own: The Ozzy and Harriet Show, one of the very first TV sitcoms. I also don’t own any Froot Loops (still!), Cap’n Crunch, or Lucky Charms.


	26. Avoidance Tactics

Kaoru really didn’t remember much about the ride over to pick up Yahiko. She was only half-aware of traffic and stop signs, reacting automatically to lights turning green or red without really seeing them. Her mind was still caught up in the fact that something clearly not human had gone after her little brother. Even though he had escaped with enough of his self-confidence intact to determinedly head back on his own and look for tracks, or... or... prints, or whatever you looked for with something that could apparently fly. 

‘ _I can’t believe that he did that, knowing how dangerous... ok, I can totally believe that he did that; I would have done it. Doesn’t mean I’m not going to give him a lecture, though. There ain’t room enough in this family for two of us going after potential sources of supernatural evil...’_

Yahiko was waiting on the stoop when Kaoru pulled up to the curve, and she didn’t even have to honk the horn before he was heading over towards her. After tossing his backpack into the back, Yahiko got into the passenger seat beside her and said, “You could have let me take the bus, ugly. I’m not an invalid or anything.” 

She frowned at the sight of a bandage applied at a rakish angle to his forehead, and the obvious scratches on his hands and replied, “You look like you lost a fight with a sidewalk. And this seemed like something requiring discussion of a sort best not carried out in school, _or_ where Dad could hear us. What exactly happened?” 

“Told you on the phone. Something was lurking near the library, up in the trees outside of the parking lot, and when I headed past them, it started swooping. And screeching. And laughing, I think. Hard to tell. Can birds laugh?” 

“What am I, a science teach—oh, never mind; don’t change the subject. You think it was a big bird, then?” 

Yahiko looked thoughtfully out of the window, frowning in thought. “I thought it was a crow when I first heard it, but... I mean, I couldn’t _see_ anything, but... it didn’t... it _felt_ different from a bird. Not just the swooping; there was lurking. Birds don’t lurk like that, you know? And when I hit it... it was like hitting a person in kendo. Something about the structure. Only... lighter somehow, not very solid.” 

Kaoru nodded at his statement and maneuvered the car through an intersection just as the light was turning yellow. “That makes sense; I mean, in order to be able to fly, birds’ bones have to be hollow, so it seems like anything else that was... well, that was almost but not quite a bird would have to be structured similarly. Really, really light, so that the wings could manage to lift it and maintain any kind of altitude, left alone swooping.” 

“Yeah, but, um, when I went back, there weren’t any feathers. I mean, I think I knocked it into a tree pretty hard, so you’d figure that there would be feathers on the ground, but...” The teenager shrugged, “Nothing.” 

“Any branches knocked down? Signs of an impact? And please note that I am reserving the right to lecture you about going back there by yourself until a later date, since we’re about to reach the school.” 

Yahiko sighed. He should have known that he wasn’t going to get off with the light warning Kaoru had given him earlier. “There were some branches, and I guess the bark might have looked a little... dented or something at one spot. I didn’t get to check it really thoroughly. Had to get back to the house before Dad got up and everything. Wanna go back after school?” 

“Kenshin said he’d look into it. And he asked us not to go back to the park until he’d had a chance to do that. So I said that we would. Or, um, that we wouldn’t. You know what I mean.” 

She was pretty sure that Yahiko blinked several times before replying, but since Kaoru was looking at the road as they approached the school, she was only able to catch it out of the corner of her eye. The fact that Yahiko wasn’t asking to be let out a block away from school grounds showed how nervous he was this morning, Kaoru thought. And the fact that she wasn’t automatically pulling over to let him out said something about her own state of mind. 

“Oh,” Yahiko finally said, clearly at a loss for anything else to say, “Well... if _you_ trust him on this, then I guess that’s ok. As long as he promised to tell us all about it later.” 

_‘And as long as you explain why you were talking to Kenshin about it in the first place... and why he’s the one who’s qualified to look into things like this,’_ Yahiko thought to himself. _‘I knew there was more going on with that sword! And with Kenshin! And Kaoru’s obviously involved... oh, man, it’s too early to be thinking about all this...’_

He turned his attention back to his sister as she continued. “Yes, he promised. And he said that the whatever-it-was was probably gone. I don’t know if he meant just during the daytime or for good; it sounded like he wasn’t sure about that one himself.” 

“Good,” Yahiko said, referring to everything Kaoru had just told him. He pulled his backpack up over the seat as Kaoru parked the car and was out of the door as soon as she’d stopped and set the parking brake. She watched him go with a smile, knowing that the only reason he hadn’t said goodbye was because he didn’t want to be seen climbing out of a teacher’s car at school. Or possibly because he didn’t want to be seen climbing out of his sister’s car at school. Or both. 

She got her own briefcase out of the car with considerably more decorum than her little brother, and headed into the school. 

It took her twenty steps before something important about what Yahiko said fully registered. 

_‘Well... if you trust him...’_

If she trusted Kenshin. Yahiko thought that she... 

_‘Oh... crap...’_

She had to stop on the sidewalk and take a couple of deep breaths before she could gather her thoughts enough to be rational. Biting her lip, she exhaled. 

Did she trust Kenshin? She knew what he had said this morning, about going to investigate whatever had attacked Yahiko, and she had believed him when he said it. Really believed him, without thinking about it first or evaluating her other options. 

She had believed that he would investigate what had happened, had believed that he would tell her and Yahiko the truth about it afterwards, and she had believed him when he said it wasn’t related to how she had hidden his sword. 

She had trusted him. Kenshin. Battousai. A demon who was responsible for at least two horrible massacres, and who had shown no compunction about butchering an enemy in front of her. 

_‘Would you believe me right now if I said, trust me, I’m not going to hurt you?’_

Kenshin’s words on the stairway echoed in her head, over and over, as she went into the school, and she was barely aware of her surroundings, the bustle of students, the noise of locker doors opening and being slammed shut again. 

_‘Would you...’_

The hallways seemed stuffier than usual, the press of people around her both closer and strangely distant as she grappled with the words running around and around in her head. 

_‘...trust me?’_

She glared at the chalkboard as she entered the classroom, glad that Mr. Fujita hadn’t arrived yet, and that most of the students were not in their seats. 

_‘I told him no, I very definitely told him ‘No!” and he smiled at me about it! He said that it was a smart thing to do... or that I was smart; I don’t remember which. If even Kenshin thought it was smart of me not to trust him right then, what the hell am I doing trusting him now? I mean, all he’s done since then is be sneaky, and underhanded, and cuddly, and... and... well, he saved my life, and he wanted to help me with my nightmares, although some kinds of help are the kind of help that I definitely can do without... and I don’t care if I like it when he kisses me, because I definitely DON’T like that I like it, and.. and... He could go out and massacre people again, whenever he feels like it! He has his sword back; how can I trust him, knowing that, no matter what else he’s done to... err... for me in the meantime?’_

“Ms Kamiya?” 

Kaoru jumped and turned to face her supervisor. It was almost a relief to see him, even if his mood seemed even more irritable and snappish than normal. 

Although, in all honesty, she supposed it was hard to tell. 

“I apologize for being late,” Mr. Fujita said, putting his briefcase down on the desk with more force than normal. “Unfortunately, it appears that you will have to handle the final two classes by yourself today, Ms Kamiya. There’s been an emergency teachers’ conference called, and I have a responsibility to attend.” As he pulled out a selection of folders, he muttered under his breath “If for no other reason than to make sure those idiots don’t make an utter muck of things...” 

_‘He... what?’_ Kaoru thought, eyes wide as she stared at him. _‘Most of the students still aren’t even here... how is that late? Unless he means getting here after I did, which, considering the way he’s been acting... wait... wait... there’s an emergency conference? When did that....’_

Before she could get further than furrowing her brow and opening her mouth to ask what the emergency was, exactly, and why it needed a teachers’ conference, Mr. Fujita was giving her another one of those sharply searching glances that had her biting her lower lip nervously. 

“Now, the plan should be fairly easy to follow, Ms Kamiya,” he said, handing the neatly-organized and labeled folders to her with a precise flick of his wrist. “All you have to do is follow the instructions and remember that _you’re_ the one giving the orders, not them, and you should be fine.” 

With that, he turned away, obviously considering the matter to be closed. 

If Kaoru had had the mental energy to devote to another strange occurrence, she would have tried to ask more questions about the conference—or, more specifically, the “emergency,”-- but her mind was already running around in as many circles as it could handle. Instead, she took her seat and tried to focus on reading the folders and preparing for work. 

It took a great effort for Kaoru to get through the school day and give the appearance that everything was normal and functional, but she managed it. She took notes, and wrote on the blackboard, and lectured, and never gave any sign of the whirl of thoughts running around in her mind, over and over, always circling back to the same contradictions: 

She shouldn’t trust Kenshin. She knew what he was, knew what he was capable of, and had already resorted to desperate measures once to stop him. She had seen him cut down an auditorium full of people, had seen him revel in carnage, had been there in the factory when he’d methodically sliced Jineh into pieces.

She did trust Kenshin. Not just in the sense of believing him. She was trusting him with her brother’s safety by letting him go out and investigate what had happened, and she had clearly trusted him enough on some deep level she didn’t want to think about when she’d fallen asleep against him, in her bed and on the couch. 

Interspersed with those two diametrically opposed points was a thread of awareness, an insistent mental comparison between Battousai as she had known him in high school and Kenshin as she knew him now. She had already noted that he seemed different... well, most of the time, anyway. There were still definite flashes of his earlier manner, the one that had led her to classify him as “predatory and dangerous”... Kaoru momentarily blinked at the chalk in her hands as she remembered specifics of the ways Kenshin had been predatory of late. 

_‘This is not useful. It is not helping me to have my thoughts running around and around and around like hamsters on crack, I know that... I can be distracted after school, right now I need to make sure that I don’t accidentally blow anything up or tell the students that they need to measure their next experiment in millihelens and bananoseconds.’_

Firmly pushing all demon-related speculation to the very back of her mind, under a pile of half-remembered family camping trips, Kaoru finished writing a set of chemical formulas on the board and turned around to make sure that everybody had their test tubes and Bunsen burners at the ready. Teaching her students, she’d discovered, was similar to kendo: as long as she focused on the discipline that she’d learned, she could keep any wayward thoughts under control and deal with the task at hand.

* * *

After the last of the students had left, Kaoru slumped slightly in her chair. If the school day had been a kendo tournament, Kaoru was fairly confident that she would at least have made it into the final round. She doubted she would have won, but she wouldn’t have embarrassed herself. All things considered, that was something she felt proud of. 

Now all she had to do was find her brother and give him a ride back home. 

During their lunch break, she had tracked Yahiko down in the cafeteria, ignoring the way he had blanched and then turned bright red as she came up to the table where he sat with his friends and gestured for him to follow her over to the side of the room. 

“ _Kao-ru!_ ” Yahiko hissed, darting glances back towards the other boys, “You _promised!”_

“This is a special situation,” she retorted, restraining her instincts to whap him over the head with the pile of folders she was carrying. “I just wanted to tell you that I’ll be giving you a ride back to the dojo after school; just swing by the classroom when you’re done, ok?” 

“I don’t _need_ you to give me a ride! I’m not a little kid!” her brother declared angrily. 

“That’s not the point!” Kaoru declared, keeping her voice low, “The point is that after last night’s events, we have a lot more to talk about! Including, by the way, ways we can make sure that that doesn’t happen again—you walking home alone after dark, I mean. Even if there hadn’t been something de—dangerous like what you ran into, there could have been gangs, or... or something.” 

His only response was a sullen glare and a muttered, “Sheesh, ugly, overprotective much?” 

“Yahiko, I mean it!” Kaoru replied, glaring back. After several seconds, he dropped his eyes, and with a muttered, “Whatever.” turned to head back to his friends. It wasn’t until she was halfway back to the classroom that she realized he hadn’t actually _said_ that he would ride home with her. 

Now school was out, and Yahiko was nowhere in sight. Unfortunately, his years of experience with the way her mind worked enabled him to duck out of school and be on the bus before she could track him down. She frowned. Occasionally, having a smart kid brother was annoying. 

_‘I could head him off at the pass by going straight to the dojo after school... but I really think I need to go home and stalk Kenshin. I mean, stake out his apartment... I mean, I need to find out what he’s found out about what happened to Yahiko, who is important enough to me to brave going into a demon’s lair... or... or living room.’_

* * *

Once she’d gotten back home, collected her mail, and headed up the stairs, Kaoru took several deep breaths before she knocked on Kenshin’s door. Part of her couldn’t believe that she was voluntarily doing this, but the driving need to know what Yahiko had managed to get away from overrode any other concerns. When there was no answer to her repeated knocks, Kaoru frowned at the door. Maybe he wasn’t back yet? Maybe there was something at the library, or at the park, that had given him a lead and he was out tracking it down? 

Or, alternately, maybe he had no leads and was still wandering the park? Or lurking near the library? If it was one of the latter two, should she head over there and offer to help? True, she had promised that she wouldn’t go over there on her own, but if she went over there looking for him.... Except then he would probably show up back here and she would miss him, and they’d just end up running around in circles. 

_‘If I’m going to trust Kenshin on this, I need to make up my mind, hold my breath, and jump, not second-guess. He asked me to wait for him, and his reasons were perfectly reasonable, and... and even though this is driving me crazy, I will accept that he knows more about what he’s looking for than I would. At least right now. I’ll just reserve the right to maim him later at my own discretion.’_

When she opened her own door, she looked around to make sure that Kenshin hadn’t made himself comfortable on her couch or in her kitchen. It would, she reflected, have been just like him to be lurking in her apartment with news rather than staying in his own apartment like a good little demon. However, the apartment was empty and exactly as it had been when she’d left it that morning, down to the breakfast dishes. In a strange way, she was happy to see them, because household chores were something concrete she could latch onto without any wider associations crowding her thoughts. 

_‘Plates, glasses, silverware, mugs; glad that he just made toast instead of waffles or French Toast... darn it, I said that I was going to do this without any wider associations! Drawing parallels and making wider associations is generally a good and useful mental skill, but not at the moment, Kaoru, and so we shall not be having any of that this afternoon!’_

Once the dishes were done and the kitchen was clean, Kaoru found herself with surprisingly little to do. Or at least nothing to do that was urgent or consuming enough to distract her from the other thoughts running around in her mind. She tried to organize her desk, threw the ingredients for Taco Soup into the crockpot and turned it up to high, browsed through the textbook assignments for all of her classes up until Thanksgiving, and sorted through the newspapers that had collected under the coffee table, but eventually found herself sitting on the couch staring blankly at headlines as the clock ticked in the other room. It took her several minutes to register the fact that the steadily blinking red light by her telephone meant that she had messages waiting for her. 

“Oh, for...” Kaoru said out loud into the stillness of the room as she uncurled from her position and padded over in sock feet towards the answering machine. She had tried to find a visible place to put the machine in her new apartment, knowing full well that she had a tendency to ignore it and miss messages, but the place where it currently was obviously wasn’t cutting it if she failed to notice a blinking red light all afternoon. 

The first message was from Misao, who, as usual, had started speaking _prior_ to the beep, resulting in half the first sentence being completely lost. 

“... –eenth century French literature—can you believe it? Megumi said it was just because Sano had this idea about being all dashing and musketeery, complete with hat and feather, but I think it’s just Katsu showing off his advanced degrees again. Anyway, we need to coordinate costumes sometime this next week, especially since there’s no WAY I’m buying a new outfit if I can help it, and if the three of us pool our wardrobes, we should be able to come up with something vaguely French. Or literary. Um... did you ever take any classes in college where you had to read relevant stuff? I mean, _Tess of the D’Urbervilles_... that’s depressing without actually being French, right? Anyway, call me back! Only two more weeks ‘til Halloween!” 

Kaoru, whose pen had come to a stop in the middle of Misao’s rant, blinked as the message ended, then wrote, “Halloween costumes—French literature; why, Lord, why—Consult with M/M” 

It took her a half-second to recognize the voice in the second message, caught up as she was in trying to make a mental list of what she might be able to scrounge up for use as a costume. When she realized that it was Kenshin, she jumped, startled, looked around to see if he was in the room, then rolled her eyes as she transferred her pen and pad to one hand so that she could hit the “Repeat” button. 

“Kaoru, I looked around at the library and at the park. It was good that you mentioned this to me; let Yahiko know that I said that, ok? I need to spend some time following up on what I found; do NOT go stake out the park, either one of you. Anything there is going to be an annoyance of the strictly two-legged kind, and nothing will be accomplished by you putting yourself in danger that way.” 

His tone, even with the slight distortion of the machine, clearly expressed that he would know if she went anyway, and would be less than amused. 

“I don’t know how long it will take me to finish with this, but I remember my promise. We _will_ talk about this, and about anything else you like, as soon as I can. Take care of yourself, kitten, and try to get a good night’s sleep. Wouldn’t want you to let yourself get exhausted again.” 

There was something between humor and smugness in his voice as the message finished, and it made Kaoru glare daggers at her machine. Her annoyance was not at all diminished by a sneaking suspicion that he had done it on purpose to lessen the overall seriousness of what he had said. And the fact that he hadn’t told her anything useful over the phone, even though he had clearly learned _something,_ made her punch the “Save Message” button with a greater-than-usual amount of force. 

Kaoru was still contemplating her next move when a familiar knock on the door snapped her out of her reverie. She stopped glaring at the answering machine, put her pen and pad down, and headed to answer it. 

“Nineteenth-century French literature?” she demanded as she opened the door to reveal Sano standing on the other side. “What kind of idiot comes up with the theme “nineteenth-century French literature” for a Halloween party in a bar that has drink specials for the number of days passed without a major health code violation?” 

“Umm... Katsu?” he offered as he came in, “He wanted to do something memorable. Said that anybody who didn’t know what else to do could come as one of the impoverished masses from Victor Hugo.” 

“Have either of you thought about taking Megumi up on her offer of giving you a discount on a psychological evaluation at the clinic? For that matter, what’s the charity this year?” 

“Cancer unit; possibly specifically for pediatric, but Megumi wasn’t sure yet. Speaking of the Fox, do you have that crockpot we talked about?” 

Kaoru blinked. Crockpot... crockpot she had promised to lend to Sano... crockpot she had just put a batch of Taco Soup into this afternoon, and... 

Closing her eyes in annoyance, she admitted, “Sorry, Sano; I forgot. I mean, it’s got Taco Soup in it right now. It isn’t a problem; I’ll just need a minute to empty it out and put it into another pot to simmer, then I have to clean the crockpot.” 

Raising one eyebrow as he followed her into the kitchen, Sano said, “Something stressing you out, Missy? You usually don’t resort to cooking unless you’ve run out of other ways to distract yourself.” 

_‘Well, Sano, you know your good friend from high school, the one you and Megumi wanted to set me up with? Guess what! He’s a demon, and something demonesque attacked Yahiko, and oh, by the way, there’s the issue of whether or not he’s attracted to me, or me to him, and a wide range of trust issues not covered in your standard Dear Abby column!’_

“Ah... well, just... um... work.” Kaoru said, lamely, as she fetched a large pot from the cupboard and got ready to transfer the contents of the crockpot. _‘Schoolwork, and housework and, oh yes, demon-research work...’_

“You sure it’s not boyfriend issues?” the tall man teased, causing her to almost spill an entire batch of soup onto her kitchen floor. Then she almost spilled the entire batch of soup on Sano, this time on purpose.

“Am I _what_?” Kaoru demanded, aware that her face was burning bright red. “What on earth... NO! _Why_ would you think that I possibly had...” Of course, the answer was obvious. After Kenshin’s little stunt at the mall, there was no way that Megumi hadn’t passed along the news. 

_‘I KNEW I was doomed, I just KNEW it, I should have throttled him with a hanger in the dressing room...’_

“NO!” Kaoru finally sputtered, seeing Sano’s expression after her earlier sentence had ground to a halt. “I do _NOT_ have a boyfriend, let alone any problems with one!” 

_‘Just a fanged, sword-wielding, wanna-be boyfriend, which does NOT count!’_

“Wow, you broke up already? Just because that’s the way me and the Fox always did things doesn’t mean that you two should do things that way. I mean, Kenshin’s a really great guy; I’ve known him for a long time; if you need any advice...” 

“This isn’t the sort of thing that you can give me advice on!” Kaoru exclaimed. _‘On account of the wacky demonosity of it all...’_

Undeterred, Sano kept talking, “Or you could talk to Megumi! I mean, if you feel the need to do the woman’s perspective thing.... 

“No! No perspectives!” She was starting to feel a sense of panic at the thought of her friends getting involved. “I mean, thanks, but we’re not... the two of us have _never_... and... we’re _not_... and... and there isn’t even a “we” in the first place, and... and, really, Sano, you...” 

“Hey! How about you let me make sure you’ve got coordinating costumes for...”

“SANO! No! I don’t want...”

“It would be great—I don’t think Kenshin knows about the theme yet, so you can just tell me what book you’re going to use, and I’ll...”

“I’m _not_ going to... I _can’t_...”

“Oh, come on, Missy, I won’t tell him it’s a plan, and then when you’re at the party,

“Sano, NO! I am _not_ going to...” Kaoru wondered if Sano was even noticing her frantic arm-waving, or if he was too caught up in working out the details of his plot. 

“...you can sidle up to him and...”

“No! Sano-you-don’t-understand-Kenshin’s-a-demon!” Kaoru blurted out in a rush, then stopped short as her brain caught up with what she had just said. Her breathing suddenly sounded very loud in the stillness that had fallen over the room with her outburst.

The only response was one slow blink of deep brown eyes, and an expression on her friend’s face that made Kaoru wince in anticipation of his next statement.

”Oh... that... Um... yeah. Yeah, I know.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Chapter: Kaoru presents the traditional Kamiya family recipe for Rooster Fricassee:
> 
> 1) Tenderize rooster, using bokken. Repeat as needed.
> 
> 2) Chop vegetables. Make occasional emphatic gestures with sharp knife while loudly comparing relative intellect of vegetables and rooster.
> 
> 3) Point out to rooster that it’s his own darned fault he’s in hot water.
> 
> 4) Find bokken again.
> 
> Author’s Note: A millihelen is the amount of beauty necessary to launch one ship (based on the line “Is this the face that launch’d a thousand ships,” in Christopher Marlowe’s play Faustus, referring to Helen of Troy); a bananosecond is the amount of time between slipping on a banana peel and hitting the ground. Really! I don’t make these things up! Um... which is why I don’t own them, either. In addition, before anybody asks— the way that Kaoru could tell that Misao was saying “nineteenth-century French literature” was that Kaoru knows when The Three Musketeers and Tess of the D’Urbervilles were written.
> 
> In this chapter I don’t own: “Some Kinds of Help” from “The Purple Puzzle Tree,” anything involving Musketeers, or, at the moment, any Taco Soup. And I wouldn’t accept Tess of the D’Urbervilles if it were given to me as a present.


	27. Kaleidoscope

Kaoru blinked. Twice. Then, in a perfectly reasonable and calm tone, she said, “I’m sorry, Sano, I thought that you just said “Yes, I know,” when I told you that the man you’ve been trying to set me up with _is a demon_.”

Sano, to his credit, managed to look embarrassed. In fact, Kaoru wasn’t sure if the red she was seeing was from her own rising temper or Sano’s blushing. 

“Well... um... yeah... I mean, he is. And... um... yeah...” Registering Kaoru’s expression, Sano’s eyes widened and he took a cautious half-step backwards, “Um... do you want me to wash that crockpot for you? I mean, I’m sure that you have lots to...” 

“Sanosuke Sagara, you have exactly three seconds to explain exactly what the hell is going on here, or even Megumi’s expertise will not be able to put all the pieces back together again, do you understand me?” 

He could tell from the way that her hands were clenching and unclenching as her eyes looked around the room that she was looking for something to bludgeon him with. Sano hoped that she wasn’t thinking about hot soup or sharp knives. Holding up his hands in what he hoped was a placating manner, Sano said, “Now, Missy, it’s not like I was trying to trick you or anything... It wasn’t something I could talk about!” 

Kaoru stopped her advance and cocked her head at him, eyes narrowed. Sano let out a sigh of relief, but knew that it was merely a temporary respite from his fate. Her voice was the sort to strike fear into the hearts of kendo classes and junior high school students alike as she said, “Well, now you are _going_ to talk about it.” There was no room for debate. 

Letting out a long breath, Sano sat down heavily on the nearest chair and said, “Kenshin... Kenshin saved my life once, ok? It’s... it’s how I know about the... the demon thing.” 

She stared, and some of her temper abated due to sheer surprise. Kenshin had saved.... Of all the things that Sano could possibly have said, that was definitely _not_ one that she had expected. “He...when... what do you mean, he saved your life? From what?” 

Sano’s response was muttered so low under his breath that Kaoru couldn’t catch all of it. 

“I’m sorry... he saved you from... was it something involving gin?” 

She watched in astonishment as even his ears seemed to turn a dull red. Swallowing, Sano took a deep breath and repeated himself, slowly. 

Kaoru blinked. 

Then she blinked again.

Then she quietly went and got one of the hidden bottles of beer she kept in the very back of the refrigerator, opened it, handed it to Sano without saying a word, and left him there while she went into the bedroom and silently closed the door. 

After all, her father had always taught her that it was terribly rude to burst into loud, hysterical laughter about somebody else if they were actually in the room at the time. 

It was probably about ten minutes later when Kaoru finally managed to get herself under control, splash water on her face, and return to the kitchen with a composed expression, only slightly marred by a persistent inability to keep her lips from twitching. Sano was sitting at the table, having finished the first bottle of beer and taken it upon himself to hunt around and find a second. Just this once, she supposed that she really couldn’t blame him. 

“So...” Kaoru said, cleared her throat, and tried again, “So... after that, what did you do?” 

“What the hell do you _think_ I did? I went out and got myself laid so that situations like that damn well couldn’t happen again!” 

“Ah... that... um... makes sense,” she nodded, focusing very intently on a spot where the linoleum was slightly cracked rather than looking Sano in the eye. After another suspicious coughing noise or two, Kaoru managed to say in a level voice, “And how exactly did you get into that situation? And how did Kenshin get you out of it?” 

Sano’s expression as he looked out of the window and collected his thoughts was more serious than she was used to seeing on his face. He took another swig of beer before he finally said, “You have to realize... after my folks died and I got sent to a new city where I didn’t even know anybody... I wasn’t exactly a happy, social kid in high school. I got into all sorts of fights, and when I wasn’t fighting, I was probably gambling or causing other trouble. Hell, even before I left town, I doubt I would have graduated that year. Anyway... that night... I had decided to take off, and... well, I’d had a bit to drink, so I figured I might as well clean out my locker... and, ok, use spraypaint to creatively express my thoughts about some of the teachers. There was a back door that was never locked right, so I figured it wouldn’t be any trouble, you know?” 

There was a pause while Sano apparently performed his own investigation of her linoleum. Then he continued, his voice softer than usual, reflecting on long-ago events. “I don’t even really know what hit me. All I know is that I was opening up my locker when I heard this noise, and before I could turn around, there was this pain in the back of my head... it was sharp and somehow... loud, I guess. If pain can be loud. Then the next thing I knew, I woke up in the gym, tied up... you know those ropes that they use for climbing?”

Kaoru nodded, biting her lip as Sano continued. 

“Yeah... anyway... I don’t even remember how many there were in the group, but they’d made good use of my being out of it. Couldn’t move a thing. Couldn’t even really look around, just down at whatever the hell they’d painted on the floor around where they’d trussed me up like a damn chicken. The only reason I know what was going on is because the one who was in charge told me. Told me exactly what they had planned.” 

The way that he said it, the slight twist to his mouth on the last word, told Kaoru all that she wanted to know about whatever had been planned for Sano. Possibly more. 

“I was lucky; they barely had a chance to get started with the chanting part when there was yelling from somewhere and the next thing I knew, there was all sorts of other blood on the floor, and something flashing silver and amber in the dark.” Sano paused and took another long swig from the beer bottle. “After they’d all been... taken care of, Kenshin cut me down. I’d seen him before, around school; I think he had been there even less time than I had, but he and I had never moved in the same circles, you know?” 

Kaoru nodded again. She did know; she knew exactly what Sano meant. That _presence_ that Kenshin... that Battousai had had... Back in high school, he had definitely not been one to move in the same circles as the nerds and outcasts. He had shown up, and gone straight for... 

“The ones who got killed...” Kaoru asked, several things clicking together, “Did you get a good look at them afterwards? I mean, did you know who they were?” 

“Yeah... I recognized some of them.” Sano mused, his thoughts clearly elsewhere as he continued. “After Kenshin cut me down... there was this moment after he’d flicked the blood off of his sword where he just looked at me, with those eyes shining in the darkness... and that sword. So I asked him if he was going to kill me. Because, you know, I kind of wanted a couple of seconds to prepare if he was. And all I could think was of course he was going to, after the way he’d sliced everybody else to bits. I think he was a little surprised by the question, because he just went totally still, like he hadn’t really thought about it, like he was operating on instinct or some kind of plan. I don’t think I’ve ever had five seconds of my life pass as slowly as when he was staring at me, just thinking. And then he sheathed his sword and told me to go get my stuff and take off.” 

“So... what did you do?” Kaoru asked as she poured herself a glass of water and leaned against the counter. She was asking more for the sake of keeping the conversation going than anything else. Later, when they were done talking, she knew that she was going to have a lot of thinking to do. Since she wasn’t looking forward to the thinking part, it made sense to try to keep the talking part going for as long as she could manage. 

Sano took another pull on his beer bottle and his expression turned slightly wry. “I took about two steps and turned back and asked him if he, um, needed any help disposing of the bodies.” 

She barely managed to keep from dropping the glass. “You... did _what?_ How did Kenshin react to _that_? _”_

“About the way that you just did, Missy,” Sano answered with a slight grin. “Wasn’t expecting it; think he figured I would just take off and never look back. He actually blinked. Then he said, ‘Thank you, Sanosuke, but arrangements have already been made,’ completely cool about it, and turned around. There didn’t seem to be much else to say at that point, so I left.” 

“You... you just _left_?” Kaoru sputtered. “I mean... didn’t you want to know what the hell was going on, and what Kenshin was doing there, and why... and... and... how could you just _leave_?” 

“Missy, when some sword-bearing demon has just rescued you from a nasty, violent fate by chopping a large number of your classmates into tiny pieces, you don’t necessarily want to stand around in the gym and talk about it.” 

“Listen, Virgin Sacrifice Boy, there are some circumstances where you take the time to _ask_ about things!” 

“Believe me, I knew enough about what was going on from what they’d told me in the first place. Didn’t really need anybody to fill in the blanks for me.” His light tone didn’t entirely hide the underlying tension in his voice. “Kaoru, I was just a kid; I was planning on running off that night anyway. What happened at school just made me run a little faster.” 

“Point. Sorry, Sano; I just... it leaves a lot of questions about things. Other things. Not necessarily things having to do with you.” 

“S’ok, I know it’s a shock. It was a shock for me at the time, too. Anyway... I took off to see the world, and a couple of years later, when I was working in Japan, in some bar off a back alley in Kyoto, guess who walks through the door?” 

“Looking for you?” Kaoru asked. 

“Nah; didn’t even really remember me until I started talking to him. I don’t think he gets to meet people twice that often. He was really nice; wanted to know what I’d been up to and everything. We stayed up late drinking and I talked about where I’d been, what I’d been doing. Kenshin talked some too, about places he’d seen. Not so much about what he’d been doing, of course. I asked him if he needed somewhere to crash, so he ended up borrowing my couch for a couple of days. Said he had some stuff to take care of in the neighborhood. Didn’t want to say much about it, but... I’d been keeping my ears open, and I gave him a couple of tips that he said were helpful. After that, well, I didn’t see him again until he showed up here.”

“Of all the gin joints in all the world?” Kaoru quipped, raising one eyebrow. 

“Nah, ran into him on the street, over by the old high school on the east side of town. He said he was going to be in the area for a while, off and on, and we’ve pretty much been friends ever since.” 

It was a typically laconic explanation for Sano, and Kaoru was torn between pressing for more details and taking time to digest what she had just heard. 

_‘Kenshin saved Sano... from being... I don’t think I can complete that sentence without time on my own to process it and recourse to chocolate...’_

She was brought out of her reverie by Sano saying her name in a tone which indicated that it probably wasn’t the first repetition. 

“Sorry, Sano; what?” 

“I was just asking, Missy, how come _you_ know all about Kenshin?” His expression was thoughtful as he took another drink. “I mean, you haven’t known each other that long, and it doesn’t seem like a conversation he’d have on the first date.” 

“We haven’t... I mean, we’re not...” Kaoru stammered, frantically trying to think of a reason she could give for knowing that Kenshin was a demon without actually telling Sano any of the gory details. 

He raised one eyebrow and said, “Oh, come on, Missy—I heard all about what happened in the mall. Hey, is that why you ran off while he was in the shower? Cause you’d found out?” 

“No! That is NOT why I... I mean, Sano, Kenshin was just being... he was joking! Just, you know, kidding around. In front of my friends.” Kaoru explained, making frantic motions with her hands. “Hey, hang on; let me get you some pretzels to go with that beer, or... or... nuts! I have some cashews, if you want; they’re around here somewhere, won’t take a minute.” She really hoped that she sounded convincing, or that Sano was distracted enough by memories and beer and the offer of food not to hear the undertone of franticness. 

Unfortunately, Sano had enough experience in the bar business to see through her attempt. In retrospect, she supposed that it was the hand gestures that had tipped him off. 

“So if you don’t know him from since you moved in... and you _do_ know that he’s a demon...” Sano said slowly, “then where on earth do you....’ He trailed off and then his eyes went very wide as he stared at Kaoru like he’d never really seen her before. 

“What?” Kaoru asked, nervous. 

This time it was Sano’s laughter that rang out through the room, startling her. 

“Um... Sano?” 

“You... it’s... _you’re_ the girl who stole his sword!” he finally choked out. “Man, he got in _so_ much trouble for that!” 

“T-Trouble?” Kaoru said, her own gaze wide as she stared at him. ‘Wait... how did you... when did he... I mean, why was he talking about... um...” So much for her grand plan to pretend that she didn’t know what Sano was referring to. On the other hand, she reflected, now that Sano had made his confession, and since he already knew that she knew, maybe it was best to get everything out into the open. 

“Damn,” Sano said, “If I’d known that was you, Missy, I would have made sure to introduce you sooner.” 

“What do you mean, introduce us sooner? How did you hear about my... um... stealing his sword?”

Sano still seemed to be having trouble getting his expression under control, but he said, “Talked about it in Kyoto, when I’d gotten drunk enough to ask him how come he had two scars on his face instead of just the one. I mean, hell, I figured anything that got close enough and fought well enough to mark Kenshin must have been pretty damn dangerous...” He trailed off again, either to stifle another laugh or hold back a comment she was sure would have had her throwing things at him. 

Letting out a breath, Kaoru went and sat down. “It was mostly luck; I... um... think I distracted him.” 

“Well, he seemed pretty distracted while he was talking about it. Although that might have been the scotch.”

Kaoru wasn’t quite sure what to say to that. On the one hand, Sano had shared his story with her. On the other, it wasn’t clear that Kenshin’s explanation had included the minor detail of her having killed him, and until she knew one way or the other, she really didn’t want to bring it up. As much as she might try to convince herself that it was because it was Kenshin’s business if he wanted to talk about that, not hers, she knew that it was really that same darned “I used the wrong fork” feeling she’d felt in the pit of her stomach when she’d made that comment during the movie that was keeping her from bringing up details. 

“So... um... what did he say about... err... never mind.” She was not interested in hearing what Kenshin had to say about her; really, she wasn’t. _‘Although maybe a tipsy Kenshin would talk more? What would a demon get drunk on, anyway?’_

Kaoru had a sudden vision of trying to hold a serious discussion with a more-than-slightly-sloshed red-head who looked at her with hazy violet eyes and kept making emphatic gestures that had him falling off of his barstool. 

_‘No, no; with my luck, Kenshin would be the clingy, “Y’re v’rry, v’rry pr’ty...” snuggly-type drunk and would end up snoring against my shoulder or curled up in my lap. And he wouldn’t care we were in public, either. Ok, scratch that. New plan: keep the alcohol away from the demon boy.’_

Searching for a change of subject, Kaoru picked up the crockpot and went over to the sink to wash it. “So, you’ve known this whole time that Kenshin... Hey! Hey, wait a minute! Sano, does Megumi know about this too?” 

“Um... well, you know, there hasn’t really been a chance to, I mean, not exactly...”

“She has no idea, does she?” 

“Err... no.” 

“Well, thank goodness for that,” Kaoru murmured, running the water. 

Sano came over to stand next to her, grabbing a dishtowel on the way. “Yeah, I mean, why worry her, right?” 

“Noooo.... I was thinking more “Thank goodness, because then I don’t have to kill you in nasty ways, because she will.” Kaoru said cheerfully. “And she’s a doctor; she has way more sharp and pointy toys than I do.”

Sano made a slightly strangled sound. “She ... that’s... You’re not going to tell her, are you?” 

“Hmm...” Kaoru wondered, tilting her head in consideration, “Let me think... how many times have you been in the room when she’s talked about, say, Kenshin and the best ways to set him up with her unsuspecting cousin, without your saying anything to her about the whole demon thing?” 

“Not that many!” Sano assured her, then blinked as she glared at him, “I mean, almost none at all. Really.” 

“By curious coincidence, Sanosuke,” Kaoru said, “ ‘none at all’ is _precisely_ how much I believe you on that.” 

“Look, my not telling her about Kenshin has nothing to do with Kenshin! I mean,” Sano corrected, holding up the dishtowel to forestall whatever Kaoru was going to say. “A man can’t exactly tell the girl he’s hoping to... no woman wants to hear her boyfriend tell the “I Was a Teenaged Virgin Sacrifice” story, ok? Even if she had believed that I wasn’t making the whole thing up, which I’m not sure she would have, you think she would have taken me seriously?” 

Kaoru bit her lip and let out a long breath. As much as she hated to admit it, the Rooster did have a point. After all, hadn’t she been trying to not tell her friends—and particularly her little brother—about Kenshin’s demonic ways? She hadn’t even shared all of the ickier, bloodier details with her grandfather, and he’d been the one she’d asked to seal Kenshin’s sword. 

Handing the crockpot to Sano as a kind of peace offering, Kaoru answered, “No... you’re right; it’s not something you spring on the first date. Or even the first anniversary, really. On the other hand, Sano, I feel it is my duty as your friend who is not afraid to use her kendo knowledge when she deems it appropriate to point out that there’s no time like the present to have that discussion. And by “the present,” I mean “Go home, break out a bottle of wine to cushion the blow, and tell her, you idiot.” Kenshin is here, he doesn’t seem to be going away, and the longer you let Megumi think he’s just a normal person she can make plots about, the worse it’s going to be when she _does_ find out. Remember that time with Misao’s friend Shiro and that nurse at the hospital?” 

Sano’s expression indicated that he clearly did remember it. In fact, he remembered it so well that Kaoru had to leap forward and rescue her crockpot from hitting the floor of the kitchen. 

Taking it back, Sano said, “Ok... you win, Missy. I’ll tell her about it as soon as I get the chance.” 

“Oh, I would do it sooner than that,” Kaoru warned. “You don’t want to have to deal with me if I have to put up with more insinuations from her about “my shiny new boyfriend,” trust me.” 

“No, you’re right; I don’t,” Sano agreed fervently. “Well... I should take the crockpot and let you get back to whatever you were doing. The Fox is waiting for me back at her place and all.” 

Kaoru escorted Sano back out and said goodbye to him, a look in her eyes that spoke volumes about what would happen to him if he failed to enlighten Megumi posthaste.

Once he had left, Kaoru locked and deadbolted her door before resting her head against it. She felt as if her thoughts were whirling around like the pieces of colored glass inside a kaleidoscope, long-established pictures shifting and swirling. 

_‘Sano was... Sano was almost... and Kenshin... I can’t even finish any of those sentences. I don’t even want to be having to start any of these sentences. I want all of these sentences and their dependent clauses to go far away and not come back.’_

She sighed. Yeah, that was going to happen. 

_‘Why can’t I have a conversation that simplifies things for once? Nothing with swords or demons or flying attacky things or barely-avoided horrible fates... dammit; is it too late to break out the chocolate?’_

Kaoru looked at the clock and sighed. Then she went and got the bag of Hershey’s Kisses out from the cupboard anyway and turned the TV to a show about gardening while she glared at it with enough force to incinerate an aspidistra. After fifteen minutes and far too much chocolate, she was forced to admit to herself that the distraction wasn’t working. Giving up, she headed to the bathroom to brush her teeth and get ready for bed. 

_‘Kenshin saved Sano from a nasty, squishy fate. OK, I can deal with that. Kenshin has also saved me from a nasty, squishy fate. The problem is...’_

She winced, finally having to face the question that had been plaguing her since hearing Sano’s story. Well, the question other than wondering how the heck the students in Sano’s high school had known he was a virgin, which she really didn’t want to know the answer to. 

_‘If the people that Kenshin killed at Sano’s high school were... I mean, if they were trying to...’_

The faint, long-ago memory of chant-like music echoing down a high school hallway drifted through her mind as she stared at her reflection in the mirror. And as she lay down for what she knew was never going to be a restful night’s sleep, Kaoru found her mind returning to one question, one night that remained engraved in her memory, undimmed by time.

_‘... does that mean...’_

She shifted restlessly under the covers, stomping on an urge to go over to Kenshin’s apartment and bang on his door until he came out and answered her questions.

_‘... does that mean that the kids at my school...’_

As the minutes marched sluggishly onwards, Kaoru grimaced at the clock. 

_‘Maybe if you just hit yourself with the pillow really hard, Kamiya, you could come down with a case of amnesia. ‘Cause I really don’t see anything else improving the situation.’_

Sighing, she prepared to count through the Periodic Table again. It was going to be a long night.

* * *

Somewhere across town, in a dark warehouse that was exactly like a score of other dark warehouses, a single curl of cigarette smoke drifted lazily through the moonbeams streaming in through the window.

Walking carefully around the dark puddles on the floor, Hajime Saitoh scowled. 

“Well, _that_ was singularly unimpressive,” he remarked to the other occupants of the room. “I fail to see why you even needed to bother me with it, Shinomori. Unless of course your skills have declined in the past century.”

The trench-coated man favored him with a glare as he re-sheathed his kodachi. “Your assistance in tracking this afternoon was appreciated.” There was something close to grudging in Aoshi’s tone on the final word. “And I would have thought that _you_ would be happy to have a chance to use your skills in a fight.”

Saitoh snorted. “You don’t think that _that_ counts as a fight, do you? Bunch of brainless morons; I’m surprised they knew which end of a sword to hang on to.” 

Aoshi’s only response was a noncommittal noise in the back of his throat. “What matters,” he answered calmly, “is that we were able to find the information we sought.” 

“True,” Saitoh conceded, tossing his cigarette to the floor and putting it out. “As much as it pains me that that red-haired idiot was correct. I didn’t think that Henya would have been stupid enough to try something out in the open. At least not yet.”

“Scaring a teenager in a public park late at night hardly counts as ‘trying something out in the open,’ Saitoh. Even Himura didn’t think it had any meaning beyond that, or any connection to anything or anyone else, and you _know_ how paranoid he is on _that_ particular topic.”

The snort that he received in response might have been vaguely affirmative. Or it might have just been annoyed. It was impossible to tell, even if Aoshi had cared to put the effort into it. Turning to the corner of the room, he said, “Hannya?”

The form that materialized out of the shadows bowed and said, “Yes, Captain?” 

“I need you to take some information to Himura. Please tell him that we were able to successfully track Henya to this location, and that we successfully dealt with the resistance we encountered.”

“ ‘Resistance’?” Saitoh snorted again, “Pathetic. Even the quality of idiot thugs has gone down nowadays.”

Aoshi ignored him and continued talking to the masked figure in front of him. “Were you able to find any traces of Henya himself in your search?”

“No, Captain. He was nowhere to be found.”

“That supports the hypothesis that Himura and I had; namely, that Henya acted prematurely, and on his own.” Aoshi murmured.

“And that his disappearance means he’s being reminded exactly why that was a bad idea?” Saitoh queried as he searched through his pockets for his cigarettes. The minute one was in his hand, it lit with a faint hissing noise, the ember glowing briefly in the dark room

“Indeed. I doubt that we’ll see him again anytime soon.”

“If that’s the case, won’t this location be useless to us?”

“The location,” Aoshi replied, “would have been useless anyway now that it’s been compromised.” He looked at the dark forms lying on the floor and continued, “What is important is what we can learn from the evidence that remains. I believe that there’s an office in the back; I’ll check that, and you can see what can be learned out here.” Saitoh nodded curtly, recognizing that the other man was better equipped to dismantle the traps and guard spells in and around the office. They could always trigger them on purpose later to take care of evidence disposal. Another warehouse fire would hardly attract attention in this part of the city.

“Hannya, you give a preliminary report to Himura. Ask him if there’s anything in particular he wants us to check for, and let him know that he will have a full report in the morning.”

Hannya bowed again, and then vanished back into the darkness without a trace. Aoshi turned, trenchcoat flaring with the motion, and stalked quietly back towards the rear of the building.

Looking down at the corpses, both human and not, Saitoh took a long drag on his fresh cigarette and considered where to begin. 

“Morons,” he said again.

It was going to be a long night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Chapter: Two teenage-boys, one stressed-out Kendo instructor/science teacher, and a museum exhibition hall full of sharp and pointy objects. What could possibly go wrong?
> 
> Author’s Note: Gold stars and slightly evil French Toast to everybody who guessed what Kenshin saved Sano from when Kaoru said, “I’m sorry... was it something involving gin?” For anybody who guessed it upon hearing that Kenshin had saved Sano’s life in the first place, you get coupons for a free psychiatric evaluation, ‘cause you’re thinking way too much like me, and that’s probably a Bad Sign. Paper towels for everybody who read Sano’s explanation of what he did to prevent the situation from happening again while trying to take a drink.
> 
> In this chapter: By curious coincidence, “none at all” is precisely the amount of “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” I own. I think you ought to know I’m feeling very depressed about that. I also don’t own “Casablanca,” (“Of all the gin joints in all the world, she had to walk into mine...”). Or “Monty Python and the Holy Grail,” in which Brave Sir Robin is not at all afraid to be killed in nasty ways. I might someday acquire an aspidistra (which is a cactus-type houseplant), but I’m not sure it would survive for very long.


	28. Prudentia, Celeritas, Audatia, Fortitudo

There was something about bright autumn mornings that Kaoru particularly loved: the crispness of the air, the impossibly bright blue of the sky, the way the sunlight shone through the reds and golds of the leaves. 

Unfortunately, this particular morning was nothing like that. Grey clouds pressed down on the city, rain fell in a steady, monotonous drizzle, and the occasional gusts of wind made branches clatter forlornly. Even the pigeons looked morose, fluffing out their damp feathers and making complaining noises to each other. 

Holding her coffee mug in both hands, Kaoru scowled as she looked out the window. 

_‘I really don’t want to go to work today... mostly for reasons that have nothing to do with the weather. I wonder if I could call in ‘terminally confused’?”_

It wasn’t just the rain, or the lack of sleep, that was causing her current mood. After operating with a certain set of facts for the past five years, things that she absolutely _knew_ to be true, she had suddenly been presented with a shiny new group of facts, from a trustworthy source, which meant that the first set of facts, the ones that she had focused on for the past five years.... 

Kaoru’s frown deepened as she realized that she was doing it again: letting everything run in circles in her head. On the other hand, she kind of believed that she had a right to it, since she currently felt as if she was in one of those touristy snow globes with glitter and a little plastic igloo that had gotten thoroughly shaken up. Everything was whirling around and nothing had had a chance to settle, and every time she tried to examine things more closely, it all ended up in a confused swirl again. 

If the business club in Sano’s high school had been... well, if the reason that they’d gotten killed was because they were carrying out unspeakable black magic rituals in the gym... Kaoru couldn’t believe that she was actually thinking that phrase in a context unrelated to very bad horror movies, but there it was. And if that had been true in that instance... 

_‘I don’t want to think about this. I don’t have time to think about this.’_ Looking across the room to the clock on the wall, Kaoru suddenly realized that her statement was more true than she’d originally thought. Swearing as she leapt forward to grab her jacket, bag, and umbrella, she let out a startled yelp as her motion almost caused her to spill her coffee. 

_‘Dammit. Dammit. Hellfire and Dalmatians and... and... just... DAMMIT!’_

* * *

Fortunately, driving in the rain proved to be a wonderfully focusing activity, forcing Kaoru to pay attention to the traffic and the roads. By the time she got to school, the rain had even started to die down. She was worried that she was running late, but since she reached the classroom at the same time as Mr. Fujita, Kaoru decided her timing wasn’t all _that_ off. 

“Good morning, Ms Kamiya,” her supervisor said. 

“Good morning, Mr. Fujita,” she replied. “How was your conference?” 

From the way his expression darkened, it had obviously not been all sunshine and chalkboards. However, his tone was calm as he said, ‘Not what I had hoped, but definitely useful. Since the issues weren’t resolved completely, it is entirely possible that there will be similar meetings in the future. Should that be the case, Ms Kamiya, I trust that you will be prepared to take over classes again.” 

“Oh...” Kaoru replied, hoping her nervousness wasn’t evident in her tone. It was one thing to know that someday she was going to have classes of her own, where she would achieve teacherness; it was another to have teacherness thrust upon her. On the other hand, it had gone fairly well the day before, and practice could only help. At least she hoped that was the case.

Whether it would or not was obviously not actually important to Mr. Fujita, who had entered the classroom and set his briefcase down almost before she had replied. Kaoru went inside and put her things down, muttering things from the day’s lesson plans under her breath in an attempt to focus. 

When her brother’s class came in, Kaoru gave him a look that had him coming up to the desk as soon as he’d put his books down. If it hadn’t been for the fact that it would have meant showing his annoyance to the other students, she was pretty sure he would have rolled his eyes. As it was, he managed to keep his expression neutral as he said, “What’d you want to talk to me about?” 

“Well, first of all, don’t even think about ducking out on me again like you did yesterday, because the next time you do it, I’m going to come over to the dojo and pound you into the ground,” she replied, her tone brightly chipper. “Second, since this is the day you and Yutaro and I are going to the museum, we need to figure out transportation and timing. I have the afternoon free, but Misao and Megumi and I are getting together later on to deal with some Halloween stuff.”

“Yutaro said his Dad was sending the car to pick all of us up and take us over there at two-thirty,” Yahiko said. 

_‘Hmm...’_ Kaoru thought, _‘I was kind of hoping to talk with Yahiko on the ride over there, but if Yutaro’s father has already arranged for all of us to get picked up, that works, too. I wouldn’t have to worry about parking, for one thing. Plus, Misao’s grandfather lives over in that part of town, so she can just meet me at the museum and then Megumi can drop me off at school to get my car later.’_

“As long as the two of you aren’t going to spend the whole ride playing with the buttons again, that sounds like fun!” she told him. She was spared his indignant reply by Mr. Fujita coming back from his cigarette break and sending the students one of his usual “Get back in your seats, now” glares. The rest of the school day passed without incident, which Kaoru was glad of.

As she was packing her bag, Kaoru said, “Mr. Fujita? I’m going to the museum this afternoon; Yahiko and Yutaro got permission to visit the new exhibition on swords and sword-making through the ages before it officially opens, and I’m going along to keep an eye on them. I was wondering if I should see about the possibility of a class field trip or anything like that.” 

“Thank you, but there really isn’t time for it in the schedule this semester,” he answered. There was a brief moment when it seemed like he was going to say something else about her plans for the afternoon, but when he didn’t, she hurriedly stuffed everything else into her briefcase, said goodbye, and left. There was still time before the car was supposed to get them, and she had decided that she needed to buttonhole her little brother and at least start talking to him. 

Looking out through the window, Kaoru was happy to notice that the day had cleared up slightly; while the sky was still mostly grey with clouds, there were patches of blue, and even some sunlight. 

_‘Not exactly October’s bright blue weather... but at least it’s not raining anymore, right?’_

* * *

Yahiko was still at his locker, and she was able to catch his attention fairly quickly. He looked around to make sure that none of his friends, acquaintances, or anybody who he had ever met in the course of his school career was nearby, ignored the way Kaoru’s lips twitched as she watched him, then slung his backpack over one shoulder and came over to say, “What?” 

“We have twenty minutes, the classroom should be empty, and we still need to talk,” she reminded him. 

“Oh... Now?” 

“No, at midnight in the middle of the Glenicker Bridge. Yes, now. Come on; you know how punctual Yutaro always is.” 

Once they reached the classroom, Kaoru carefully closed the door and then went and leaned against her desk next to Yahiko. For several long moments, she just collected her thoughts, trying to figure out the best way to start the conversation. 

_‘OK... this isn’t the first time you’ve told somebody that Kenshin’s a demon... and if Yahiko says he already knows, I am going to... well, I don’t know what, but it will probably involve demon-directed violence, and embarrassing questions for my kid brother.’_

Yahiko opened his mouth to say something, probably about how long she was taking, but before he could, Kaoru took a deep breath and said, “OK, I... I don’t know everything about the situation, but I said I would tell you what I knew, right?” 

Her brother nodded. 

“First of all... yes, you were right; those were charms around the sword. I asked Grandpa about the best way to hide it, and that’s what we came up with. Second of all... this is going to sound weird, but Kenshin... um... well, Kenshin’s not exactly human.” 

Yahiko blinked. “Oh,” he said, “Um... so... if he’s not human, then what...?” 

“He’s a demon.” 

“A demon? You mean as in forked hooves and a tail and pointy ears and fangs?” 

“Kenshin doesn’t have hooves!” 

“How do you know? I mean, have you ever seen his feet?” 

“Of course I haven’t seen his feet! That’s not the _point_ , Yahiko! The point is, there are probably different kinds of demons, and Kenshin is one of the kind that doesn’t have all that. Um... except for the fangs, sometimes.” 

“He has fangs? Really? That is _so_ cool!” 

“No, it’s not!” 

“Is too! And I bet he has cool demonic powers and stuff, right?” 

“Ya. Hi. Ko.” Kaoru said in a carefully controlled voice. “Are you _listening_ to me? Kenshin. Is. A. Demon. As in very dangerous, and knows how to use that sword in lots of deadly ways, and isn’t afraid to do just that.” 

The teenager shrugged. “Yeah, I figured. I mean... when he showed up at our door that night you were kidnapped, you could tell he was pretty damned dangerous. I just assumed he was a gangster or something. Like a hitman for the Mafia, or some totally unstoppable Yakuza assassin who lurks in the darkness with his sword.” 

“Ma—Yahiko, you really do watch too many movies, you know that?” 

“Says the girl who just told me that this guy we know is a _demon_ , hello!” Yahiko retorted. 

“Yes, fine,” Kaoru grumbled, feeling her face redden slightly. She wasn’t sure how she had expected the discussion to go, but it seemed to have gotten away from her at some point. “Anyway... Kenshin is a demon; I’m pretty sure that whatever went after you in the park was also a demon; Kenshin will tell you more when he finds stuff out. Meanwhile, don’t go back to the park at night by yourself.” 

“Is that, like, a demonic warning?” 

“No, that is an older sister warning, with demonic support,” she replied. 

Yahiko’s expression indicated that that was much less exciting than the first option, but he nodded and said, “OK, fine. Hey, so Kenshin uses a sword to fight?” 

“Yes,” Kaoru answered, ruthlessly stomping on memories of just how effectively Kenshin used his sword. 

“That is _so_ cool!” her brother enthused, “Do you think he’d teach me some of his moves?” 

“NO!” Kaoru almost shouted, “There is _no_ way that you are learning... first of all, Yahiko, you are _not_ going to ask him that! Second of all, it is _not_ “cool”!” 

“Is so!”

“Is not!”

“Is so!”

“Oh, look, this isn’t an argument!” Kaoru snapped, rolling her eyes. “What Kenshin does isn’t some kind of game, and it is not something for you to get involved with!” She exhaled, trying to calm down. “It’s dangerous,” she finally continued, “and... look, Yahiko, we can talk more about this later, once Kenshin knows more about what’s going on. In the meantime, try to remember that demons equal dangerous, and don’t do anything that gets you in over your head. I’ve only got one little brother, and I’d rather keep him in once piece, ok?” 

With that, Kaoru turned to get her bag. Yahiko didn’t say anything until she was almost at the doorway, then he hesitantly asked, “Hey... Kaoru? That night... was it a demon that grabbed you?” 

She didn’t quite turn to face him, and her voice was serious as she answered him, “Yeah. It was. Hence my position of authority on this matter, and why you should believe me when I tell you that there are some things you don’t want to get involved in if you can help it, ok?” 

“OK,” Yahiko said. “So... Kenshin’s a demon? Does everybody know?” 

“Well, Kenshin knows,” Kaoru said as they walked into the hallway together, heading for where they could see Yutaro waiting. “And you and I know. Oh, and Sano.” 

“Sano? Wait— _Rooster-brain_ knows? How did _that_ happen?” 

“Oh... you’ll have to ask him about that, Yahiko,” Kaoru replied, her good humor returning as she tried to hide the spark of mischief in her eyes. “I would hate to spoil the story.” 

* * *

Kaoru had to admit, the museum had really gone all out for the new exhibition. 

_‘Benefits of corporate sponsorship, I suppose,_ ’ she thought as she looked up at the large, colorful banner marking the entrance to the exhibition rooms. Yutaro’s father had not only contributed a large percent of the money needed to put the exhibit together, he had made good use of his contacts to allow the museum to get some truly spectacular pieces on loan, including some rare swords that were being shown in the United States for the first time. 

‘If the two of you would put your pens down,” she said to the boys, who were clearly about to start an impromptu fencing match inside of the museum, “I’ve got copies of the map, showing what’s in what rooms. It’s pretty much chronological, with a section in each room devoted to technology and construction techniques, and then some examples of actual weapons. Try to remember that you’re here to take notes for your project, ok? And don’t lean on the cases. And especially don’t drool on them.” 

“We don’t _drool_!” Yahiko said, clearly offended. He drew himself up to his full height and tried to look dignified, although she was fairly sure it was for the benefit of the museum personnel bustling around and working on last-minute exhibition issues and getting ready for the evening’s pre-opening champagne reception. 

“Fine. We have until five; then we need to start heading out, because the museum will be closing and the caterers will be arriving for the party in here.” _‘And I definitely want you two out of here before the trays of hors d’ouevres start making an appearance.’_

Both boys gave short nods, then turned and strode eagerly into the first room. Kaoru followed. In the dim light, the leaf-shaped blades of the Bronze Age swords shone dully, and she went over to read the explanatory notes next while Yahiko and Yutaro looked at the display on how the swords were made and consulted with one another in hushed voices. 

Not entirely certain how far back they were going to extend the historical segment of their class project, and definitely not wanting to interfere, Kaoru continued reading plaques and staying out of the way. Except for one instance near the Roman swords where she had to remind the boys that the museum was not the place to have a spontaneous gladiator practice, the afternoon passed smoothly. 

“Hey, Kaoru?” Yahiko asked her, and she turned from where she was reading an excerpt from Fiore dei Liberi’s _Flos Duellatorum_ about the four virtues of a fencer to look at him.

“Do you think Mr. Fujita would mind if some of our diagrams and stuff came from the exhibition? I mean... like that chart about the Center of Percussion, or some of the cutaway views? Yutaro was saying that we could probably get copies if we asked, and it seems kind of silly to spend time drawing them all again when we could be using that time to do other things.” 

Tilting her head in consideration, Kaoru finally answered, “I think that you could use a couple of the more complicated diagrams to illustrate your points, as long as you make it very clear that they are from the museum, and not original work. For simpler stuff, like pointing out the components of a sword, you should do it yourselves.” 

“Great!” Yahiko said, and she couldn’t tell if he was more enthused about being able to use the museum diagrams or getting a chance to spend time making his own. It made her happy to see him so excited about classwork, and she made a mental note to remember to let her students pick out topics for class projects when she had her own classes someday. 

Given Yutaro’s family heritage, it was unsurprising that the largest, most impressive room was devoted to Japanese sword-making techniques and examples. While the two boys were eagerly taking notes on steel composition and carbon percentages and comparing the drawings of _masame-hada_ and _ayasugi-hada_ blades, Kaoru wandered around and admired the katana and wakizashi on display. 

_‘Wow... they’ve got weapons dating back to the Warring States Era! They really did go all-out collecting things for this exhibit!’_ she thought to herself as she looked at an example of an _odachi_ longsword. She had to admit; this was her favorite room as well, although it amused her that the atmosphere around this display seemed more shrine-like than historical. The katana at the very back of the room, in the central position just across from the entrance, even had a melodramatic shaft of sunlight falling upon it from one of the skylights, making it almost seem to glow. She wondered absently how they had managed that effect. 

_‘Nineteenth century...’_ Kaoru read to herself, _‘One of the major blades forged by renowned swordmaker Arai Shakku, who devoted himself to expanding the art of swordmaking and creating more effective weapons... Which means that he wanted to create things that killed better, I suppose. Not that the Bakamatsu was a peaceful time period anyway.’_

Peering more closely through the glass, she wondered if the blade had been damaged at some point. There seemed to be small nicks or scratches all along the edge, and the steel seemed clouded by something. 

_‘I guess that getting any blade by such a famous swordmaker was an event, even if it’s not in perfect condition. And they would have wanted to keep it in its historical state, so no fancy polishing. This was a sword that got used; no point making it look like it spent its entire existence at some temple.’_

Moving on, Kaoru found her attention caught by another sword, one she couldn’t quite figure out. The blade was clearly Japanese; she recognized the curve and structure of it. The grip, however... 

“It’s a specific kind of _tachi_ called a _nihontou_ ; a Japanese katana blade with a Chinese-style grip,” a voice from behind her said. 

Kaoru jumped in startlement and spun around to face the man standing behind her. “Didn’t anybody ever tell you it’s rude to sneak up on people?” she demanded, her temper flaring to cover her surprise. 

“My sister used to say that all the time,” he said, a faint smile turning up one corner of his mouth. “I’m sorry; it was not my intention to spook you. I merely noticed you looking at the sword and thought I could give you some information about it.” 

“Thank you; I guess I should have expected that the museum would have people making sure everything was set for the grand opening tomorrow!” Kaoru replied, accepting the apology. After all, there was no harm done, and she _had_ been curious. “Um...Isn’t it a little dark in here to be wearing sunglasses?” 

The pale-haired man shrugged. “Is it? I didn’t really notice. I guess I’m just used to them.” 

It was on the tip of her tongue to speculate that wearing pants in that particular shade of bright orange probably provided enough reflected light to see by, but Kaoru restrained herself. Commenting on the fashion sense of perfect strangers was a habit best left to Misao. 

“At any rate,” he continued, “it’s nice to see people who are seriously interested in swords. I take it those other two belong to you as well? The ones who seem about ready to salivate over the display cases?” 

She grinned back at him, “That would be my brother and his lab partner. They’re doing a class project on sword construction and history, so visiting this exhibition is perfect. My family runs a dojo on the other side of town, so Yahiko and I grew up with Japanese martial arts history. I don’t think I’ve heard of a hybrid Sino-Japanese style before, though.” 

“Well, it wasn’t as widespread or popular as other martial arts styles,” the man replied. “Japanese-style swords spread to China starting with the thirteenth-century, and a Shaolin monk developed a style of kenjutsu based around their use. Then a general named Seki Keikou incorporated them into the weaponry of his soldiers. It all resulted in a Chinese style of kenjutsu called _watoujutsu_ , designed to combine speed and flexibility.” 

“That sounds like it would be extremely effective; I’ve seen speed-based kenjutsu, but it was a Japanese style. Are there going to be demonstrations of that style as part of the events around the exhibition?” 

Her new acquaintance’s tone was regretful as he answered, “No... unfortunately, that won’t be possible. As I said, it was never a widespread style, and kenjutsu in general is so rarely practiced nowadays... But you can feel free to come back here and ask more questions, if you like.”

“Thank you!” Kaoru said, genuinely appreciative. “I’ll try to take you up on that; it’s always interesting to learn more about kendo and kenjutsu. Well, it is for me, anyway; side effect of growing up in a dojo, I guess.” 

“What style does your family teach, if I may ask?” 

“Kamiya Kasshin Ryuu; it’s a kendo school that focuses on the revitalization of the spirit and the development of individual potential. It’s a fighting style that focuses on controlling and disabling your opponent, rather than killing them. Actually, it was one of the first kendo-focused schools in Japan to advocate non-killing principles!” 

“Interesting philosophy; I can see where there would be uses for a school that focuses on winning a fight through controlling opponents.” he said, nodding in agreement. “Well, Ms Kamiya, it was nice to meet you. I hope to see you again. Right now, however, I think the caterers are about to start wandering through here and muttering about flower arrangements. Far too annoying for me to listen to, frankly. I hope that you have a good evening.” 

It probably wasn’t appropriate to giggle in a serious museum exhibition, but Kaoru did it anyway. “Yes, I can see where that would be—oh, rats! I’m sorry; we’re not supposed to be in here this late either!” She turned and called across the room, “Yahiko! Yutaro! It’s five o’clock already! Unless you’re trying to copy Claudia and Jamie Kincaid and live in the museum, we need to get going.” 

Kaoru had to stifle a grin at the identical, mulishly reluctant expressions that crossed the boys’ faces. Turning back to thank the man she had just met, she blinked when she realized he had already left when the caterers started walking in through the back door. 

_‘Nice to meet somebody at the museum who actually knows something about the things they’re displaying. I wonder if he’s here just for this exhibition, or if he works here all the time? Well, either way, he’ll be around for the next couple of months, and I can always ask at the desk if I don’t see him. Can’t be many guys who work here and bleach their hair.’_

Walking over to the boys, she said, “Come on, you two; the museum and all the pretty sharp things will still be here over the weekend if you want to come back then.” 

From their excited conversation all the way back through the exhibition, Kaoru surmised that the afternoon had been a success. In fact, they had been so captivated by it that she had to practically yank them back from the Crusader swords and the diagrams about Toledo steel. When they reached the steps, Yutaro’s family’s driver was waiting for them, and he gave a perfect bow to the two young men as he opened the door for them. 

“Yahiko, say hi to Dad! And tell him that I’ll see him for classes this week, same as always!” Kaoru instructed her brother as he got ready to leave. “I’ll see you tomorrow at school! Yutaro, please thank your father again for the chance to see the exhibition before it officially opened.” 

“Thanks, sis!”

“Yes, Ms Kamiya!”

As the car pulled away, Kaoru reflected, _‘Oh, yes; definitely good to see the exhibition where those two could take their time and argue with each other and take notes without bothering anybody else. Well, except for me, occasionally. And lurking museum employees. Overall, no harm done, though, and they’ll be able to do a great job with their project.’_

* * *

It was barely five minutes before Misao pulled up, cheerfully honking her car horn so loudly that Kaoru was even more embarrassed than she had been at any point in the museum. As quickly as she could, she ran over to her friend’s car and got in, saying, “You don’t need to be so loud about it; I could see you perfectly well!” 

“Oh, but this was much more fun! I thought it would get things off to a nicely festive start! You know, the Halloween spirit?” 

“How, exactly, is the noise of a car horn in any way connected to the Halloween spirit, pray tell?” 

“Well... you know, pumpkins scream in the dead of night... honk a horn ‘til the neighbors r’gonna to die of fright...” 

“Yes, very festive, Misao. And why wasn’t Megumi picking me up again?” 

“She’s running a bit late; had something come up at the hospital. Anyway, never fear; I have gotten all sorts of fun boxes out of the attic, and we are going to have no trouble finding perfect costumes!” 

“You do remember the theme, right? What, did your grandfather have a secret stash of nineteenth-century French clothing hiding in steamer trunks?” 

“No! I mean, I don’t think so. What I _meant_ was, the three of us are creative and intelligent young women and thus more than equal to the task before us! Have confidence, Kaoru!” 

“Ri-ight,” Kaoru said, rolling her eyes. Frankly, a chipperly eager Misao inspired many feelings in those who knew her, and “confidence” wasn’t exactly one of them. 

When they reached the house, Misao hollered a cheerful greeting at her grandfather in the kitchen, then dragged Kaoru back towards the rest of the house. True to her word, Misao had practically filled her grandfather’s living room with an assortment of boxes, and the furniture was already strewn with pieces of fabric and assorted articles of clothing. 

“Now,” Misao said, “What was your plan for the party?” 

“Same plan I have every year, Misao. I’m going to wear comfortable clothing and try not to get accosted by drunken weirdos, because whenever that happens, they always whine about their injuries afterwards.”

“You mean you and Kenshin aren’t going to coordinate costumes? You guys would be so...” 

“No, we are _not_ coordinating. We are not in fact going together. I am not sure Kenshin will be able to be there,”—it wasn’t _exactly_ a lie, Kaoru rationalized, because he _had_ seemed to be awfully busy lately—“and so, you know, I figured I would just stick with what I know.” 

“Oh,” the petite girl said, obviously disappointed. “Well, anyway, if you don’t know what you’re doing yet, you can help me look for more scarves! Oh, and we need to hunt through the costume jewelry.” 

“Scarves?” 

Nodding enthusiastically, Misao began looking through boxes and pulling out bright pieces of fabric as she repeated, “Scarves! I’m going to go as Esmeralda from _The Hunchback of Notre Dame_! Except that I’m going to wear shoes. So, I have a skirt, and a top, and now I just need to accessorize! You don’t have any giant hoop earrings, do.... um... never mind; silly question.” 

Rolling her eyes, Kaoru grabbed another box and started sorting through it. “So... Misao, are _you_ going to be coordinating your costume with anybody? You still haven’t said a word about how your date with Aoshi went, you know.” 

“Uh...” Misao blinked and said, “It was... normal! A very normal date.” 

“Wow... that’s a first,” Kaoru teased, wondering why on earth her friend would pick that particular adjective.

“Well, I mean, it was terribly romantic, and... um... nothing weird happened. I mean, you know me; one date disaster after another, could tell you stories that would make your hair turn white, but for once I had a date and nothing unusual screwed things up.” 

“Uh-huh...” Kaoru answered. There was something about Misao’s tone, the way her words were tumbling over one another even more than normal that didn’t seem quite right. “So... where did you go for dinner?” 

“Aoshi took me to this great Italian place; you would love the pasta,” Misao replied, “Hey! You know what? We should go there! Or, if not there, out! The three of us—we haven’t had a Girls’ Night Out in so long, and this would be the perfect chance!” 

“What—tonight?” 

“Of course, tonight! I don’t have plans, and Megumi doesn’t have plans, and _you_ don’t have plans...” 

“How do you know that I don’t... ok, fine, yes. I guess that if you and Megumi are free, it would be fun to grab dinner.” 

Because if she went back to her apartment for dinner, Kaoru knew, she would spend the evening staring at her plate while her brain ran around in circles. Again. Spending time with other people meant less time to get overly focused on her own problems. 

“Yay!” Misao practically bounced out of the room as she exclaimed, “I’ll go make a call for reservations, and you keep looking for scarves. Megumi should be here any minute.” 

Sure enough, even before Misao had come back into the room, Kaoru’s cousin walked through the door. Megumi was arguing with somebody on her cellphone, her tone and posture frustrated as she asked, “What do you mean you “lost him”? This is not like Mrs. McCleary last year! This is not a small person! This is a large, difficult-to-misplace person! Of course I know that I handled the original paperwork; however, I have your signature on the... Look, just find him before the end of your shift, so that we can notify the next-of-kin, ok?” 

Hanging up with a scowl, Megumi muttered, “Bunch of incompetent morons,” and sat down on the only clear space left on the couch. 

“Megumi! We’re good for going out to dinner, right?” Misao said cheerfully as she came back into the room. 

“Yes; we’re fine. I just had to deal with that last phone call. Now we need to do something about Kaoru’s clothes.” 

“I already told Misao; I’m looking for a plain costume. Actually, looking at this stuff, I think I’ll go as Gavroche from _Les Miserables_. It’s fairly easy, it’ll be comfortable, and you both know that I make a great urchin.” 

Raising one elegant eyebrow, Megumi replied, “I meant we need to do something about your clothes for this evening. You look like a schoolteacher.” 

“I _am_ a schoolteacher, Megumi, and I don’t see what’s wrong with wearing this to dinner.” 

“Kaoru, she’s right; this is supposed to be a Girls’ Night Out—as in, fun, and frivolous, and.. well, not frilly, exactly, but definitely not what you’re wearing right now. We’ll just grab something out of the back of my closet once we’re done with costumes.” 

_‘Great... first two teen boys practically swooning over the weaponry displays, and now my cousin and Misao determined to play dress-up with me as the doll. I really just should have called in confused this morning.’_

“Kaoru, are you _sure_ that you don’t want to do anything more interesting than a street urchin for the party?” Misao said imploringly. “You could be somebody else from the book! Or somebody else from some other book, as long as it wasn’t some grungy boy.” 

“Oh, let her do what she wants,” Megumi suggested “That way, at least if she gets a tray of drinks spilled down her front, it will only add to the grime.” 

“For the record, if that happened again, no matter what I was wearing, I’d still feel obligated to kill Sano,” Kaoru noted. 

“Not a problem,” the young doctor assured her. 

“So, Megumi; I’m going to be Gavroche; Misao is going to be Esmeralda; what are you going to wear this year? There are still boxes which remain unopened!” 

Raising her nose slightly, Megumi loftily replied, “Actually, I have everything all planned out. And it is not going to involve my rooting around in boxes—no offense to the boxes, of course.” 

“None taken!” Misao giggled. 

“Wow,” Kaoru said, amused, “I can see you’ve put a lot of thought into this. Well, in that case, I’ll just wait and prepare to be astonished by your choice, using the time between now and then to practice my awestruck expressions in the mirror.” 

Even Megumi laughed at that. For the next couple of hours, the girls rummaged through the boxes, finding enough brightly-colored scarves to give Misao a wide range of choices, and some clothes just this side of ragged that Kaoru declared would be perfect. She wasn’t quite sure what she was going to do about shoes, but she figured she had a little time to work on it. Besides which, who was going to be looking at her feet in that crowd? 

Once the costumes were set, Misao insisted on dragging Kaoru upstairs to find her a dress. Kaoru submitted to it with reasonably good graces, especially after Megumi pointed out that borrowing something else to wear would spare her work clothes from needing to be dry-cleaned that much sooner. After a red dress that Kaoru rejected on the grounds that she felt like a tomato, and a pale green dress that Megumi suggested they either burn or cut up for cleaning clothes, Misao pulled out a deep blue dress that had several layers of chiffon layered to form a gently-draped mid-calf-length skirt.. The underlayers were shot through with threads of silver that added a subtle depth to the dress, but nothing excessively shiny. 

“This one! It’s perfect!” Misao declared happily, holding it up against Kaoru and looking at it with an expert’s eye. Megumi agreed, and even Kaoru couldn’t find anything too objectionable about it. The neckline was a subtle scoop, echoed in the back of the dress, and the wide straps tapered slightly in the front and back. 

Once Kaoru was dressed, Megumi insisted on doing her hair, and re-applying her eyeshadow for the evening. Meanwhile, Misao was putting on her own outfit, a dress in a shade of purple that managed to be cheerful without being obnoxious. Megumi kept her black skirt but changed into one of Misao’s less obnoxiously sparkly sequined tops, as well as slipping into dressier shoes and changing her earrings. 

“Misao, you should open up a clothing store as a hobby,” Kaoru teased as she watched her cousin try to put her friend’s trademark braid up into a loose bun. 

“It’s only fun to do this with friends, though,” the girl answered, “I can’t bother strangers nearly as well as the two of you. Speaking of bothering, Megumi, could you drive? I have alcohol-related plans for the evening, and it makes more sense geographically for you to drop Kaoru off at school and me back here afterwards anyways.” 

“Mm-hmmm...” the young doctor replied around a mouthful of hairpins. 

“Terrific! This is gonna be a _great_ time!” 

_‘I hope so,’_ Kaoru thought, trying not to fidget with the hem of her dress. _‘I could really use one.’_

* * *

Misao chattered brightly all the way to the restaurant, but Kaoru ignored it. At least mostly. Megumi was concentrating on driving, so Kaoru was really the only conversational partner available to the petite girl. On the other hand, Misao was perfectly capable of carrying on both sides of a conversation herself, so it wasn’t like Kaoru had heavy responsibilities. Which was a good thing, considering the whirl that her thoughts were still in. She hoped that a night out with her two friends would help her get her mind out of the endless “Obsess, stress, rinse, repeat” cycle it had fallen into. 

Fortunately for Kaoru, Megumi announced that they had reached the restaurant just as she was about to hitch another ride on the same train of thought she’d been on since Sano’s explanation. She closed her eyes and took a cleansing breath. This was supposed to be a fun evening, something she could just enjoy as if there was nothing else bothering her.

As she got out of the car, she looked up at the restaurant in surprise. “Hey, Megumi... are you sure this is the right place? I mean, isn’t it a little bit too... well, I mean, I’ve heard that they have a really long wait list for reservations and...”

_‘I should have known enough to ask where they were planning on dragging me when Misao insisted that I wear this...’_ Kaoru thought, looking down at her dress. It wouldn’t have been the first time Misao had decided that they absolutely had to go try some restaurant she’d read a review of without checking things like prices and availability. _‘Oh well... I can always just try to get away with ordering soup or salad or something... or just eat breadsticks the whole evening... assuming they serve breadsticks in a place like this...’_

“Yup, this is the right place! Don’t worry; I made the right phone calls and everything in advance. This time,” Misao declared, bounding out of the car in a way which Kaoru was sure would lead to broken heels or broken ankles. Sighing, Kaoru waited until Megumi handed the keys to the valet and then headed inside with her friends. The restaurant was tastefully elegant, with a small band quietly playing light jazz music in the background and soft lighting that complemented the paintings on the walls. Waiters moved efficiently among tables decorated with arrangements of fresh flowers, and Kaoru felt a slight sinking feeling as she saw the plates with precisely arranged entrees and elegantly decorated desserts. 

“We couldn’t have just gone to that all-night waffle place again?” she muttered under her breath at nobody in particular. _‘Good lord, they even garnished the soup with a set of matched sour cream spirals and parsley... unless it’s cilantro...’_

She was so absorbed in surreptitiously gawking at the dining room, the diners, and the food that she almost ran into Megumi and Misao as they stopped. She hadn’t even realized that they were almost at the back of the restaurant, in an area which seemed to be divided into private tables, some in booths and some in what looked to be small rooms of their own. Kaoru wondered if Misao had managed to get them a table behind the door to the kitchen... or possibly _in_ the kitchen, which explained why she’d gotten something so quickly. 

Then she almost jumped out of her skin at the feel of a pair of hands on her shoulders, the warmth setting off tiny sparks along her nerves and the scent of ginger wrapping around her. Kaoru managed not to yelp, for which she was profoundly grateful, but did elbow sharply backwards as she spun around and glared into a pair of amused amber eyes. 

Kenshin was wearing a black tuxedo that fit perfectly and somehow managed to make the color of his hair even more intense in the low light. 

“Did you get a job as a waiter?” she demanded with annoyance, covering up the sudden rush of nerves at seeing him up close. She suddenly realized that he’d managed to catch hold of her hand and was raising it to his lips as he bowed slightly, his eyes never leaving hers. The way that she narrowed her eyes at him made him smile and she barely restrained an urge to try to punch him in the nose. 

“You look very lovely, kitten,” Kenshin said, his voice tinged with slightly husky undertones. “Shall we?” 

Kaoru blinked at him, not understanding his last sentence until he’d threaded his arm through hers and was clearly starting to lead her towards one of the private tables. 

“H—hey! What are you... I mean, this is supposed to be... I’m here with...” Turning to her friends for confirmation, she suddenly realized that both the other girls had disappeared, leaving her alone with... 

_‘They... they... I can’t believe that they... the next time that I see them, I’m going to...’_

“You... you... unscrupulous, conniving... what did you do, call my friends up and ask them to help with setting me up?” 

“Actually, they called me,” Kenshin said easily, opening the door and ushering her into a room full of the subtle light of candles and the faint scent of flowers. “Misao said something about ‘setting-up rights’.....” He was careful to keep his body between hers and the door, even when he pulled out a chair for her to sit down. As he pushed her back towards the table, she felt the faint touch of his lips against her hair, and a brief moment where he seemed to be just breathing deeply. 

As he took the seat across from her, his eyes caught the candlelight and glittered. Kaoru continued to glare at him, although part of her brain registered that at least surprise and annoyance had stopped the incessant round-and-round of her thoughts. She supposed that she should be grateful for that, but she was too peeved. 

“And why exactly did you suddenly develop this burning need to listen to my friends and their potentially embarrassing schemes?” Kaoru demanded. She looked around for a menu to occupy herself, or possibly to hit him with, but there wasn’t one on the table. 

Kenshin shrugged easily and grinned at her across the table before he reached and caught one of her hands in his, his fingers smoothing repeatedly over her knuckles. 

“Because, kitten, I owe you a discussion. And if we’d tried to have a talk in private in my apartment—or your apartment... well, I very much doubt that we would have gotten very far. At least not with the discussion.” 

His tone made something kick in her chest, but she kept her expression controlled. 

“Isn’t a restaurant a bit _too_ public? Kaoru asked tartly, raising one eyebrow. 

“It’s a private booth, and nobody’s going to interrupt us, except when the waiter is bringing the food.” 

“And we’re ordering without menus how, exactly?” 

Kenshin flashed her another one of those bone-melting smiles and replied, “I took the liberty of arranging something special with the chef. Dinner’s all taken care of, kitten; you just have to enjoy it. And ask whatever questions you want to have answered.” 

She was saved from having to come up with a brilliant and cutting retort by the arrival of a cheerfully efficient waiter, who brought a bottle of Evian, two salads, and a basket of fresh bread, along with a tiny pitcher containing more dressing if they wanted it and some herbed butter. In spite of herself, Kaoru was impressed. Although she had to admit that it was an unusual tactic to try to ply someone with food and drink in order to get them to _ask_ questions. 

“So... what have you been up to?” Kaoru asked while she was busily spearing a grape tomato with slightly more force than actually necessary.

“Work, mostly,” Kenshin replied with a twinkle in his eyes that said he knew she was just asking to pass the time during the salad course rather than starting with serious questions. Kaoru looked at him over the rim of her water glass and bit her lip.

If that was the way he wanted to play it... fine.

“Alright, _Battousai._ Tell me this. Why, exactly, do I have this strong feeling that I really, _really_ don’t want to know what was behind that auditorium curtain back in my high school?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Chapter: Dinner. Discussions. And the very real possibility of Kaoru trying to see if demons can survive being beaten about the head with a garlic breadstick. 
> 
> In this chapter, I don’t own: From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, by E.L. Konigsburg (in which Claudia and Jamie run away to live in the Metropolitan Museum of Art), Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night,” (“Some men are born great, some achieve greatness, some have greatness thrust upon them,”), “October’s Bright Blue Weather,” by Helen Hunt Jackson, or the Argument Clinic routine from “Monty Python,” or the music from “The Nightmare Before Christmas” (“This is Halloween; this is Halloween; Pumpkins scream in the dead of night; This is Halloween; this is Halloween; Trick or treat ‘til the neighbors’ gonna die of fright...”), The Hunchback of Notre Dame, or Les Miserables. The Glenicker Bridge is the bridge just outside of Berlin where spy exchanges and other nifty secret agent stuff happened during the Cold War. I don’t own that either. And I tossed in a reference to a particularly long katana (odachi, according to Wikipedia) as a shout-out to “Samurai Deeper Kyo,” which is owned by various people who are not me.
> 
> Editing note: As I was editing this to post on A03, I realized that Misao was referring to the character of Esmeralda from "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" using an ethnic slur- which, while it IS what the character is called in the book, the movies, etc., didn't really need to be used here. So, while I kept her costume choice, I took that specific language out of the sentence.


	29. Answer and Question

Kenshin took a slow sip from his glass as he gave her with an intent, considering look. “Ah,” he said at last, “I was wondering if you’d had a chance to talk with Sano.... And, you’re right... it was a very good thing that that curtain was down. And that you didn’t go back there during your little fire-setting expedition.” 

She glared at him. Little fire-setting... “Hey, I went back into the auditorium, in spite of everything. How much worse could it have... how much worse _was_ it?” 

“I know; I know that you went back in there. I was very impressed ...” Kenshin trailed off before he quietly said, “It was much worse, Kaoru... at least everything in front of the curtain was still completely human.” 

“And the things that were... behind the curtain?” Kaoru demanded, fighting back a shudder. Her nightmares had been bad enough as it was; she wasn’t sure she really wanted more specific information, but she knew that it would be worse not to know. The point of this exercise was to get everything out in the open, after all. 

“Had stopped pretending that they were,” Kenshin answered. 

“Are you telling me that the guys on my high school football team were _demons_?” Kaoru demanded. 

“Yes... well... not the linebackers.” Kenshin amended. 

“Well, that explains why they had that winning streak,” she muttered. “Were they always demons? I mean, were they demonic little kindergartners at some point?” 

Kenshin’s expression was hard to decipher as he said, “No... they...” He stopped and then started again. “There are some ways for humans to... well, sacrifice their humanity and become demons. There are benefits to it that can make that kind of thing fairly attractive, if you don’t care about the costs.” 

Remembering Sano’s experience, Kaoru pointedly asked, “Costs to themselves, or costs to other people?” 

“Both. It depends. Ah, here’s the soup.” 

She turned in surprise as the waiter knocked and then opened the door. Not really sure how to continue the conversation when somebody else was in the room, Kaoru was silent while the salad plates were cleared away. As the waiter was serving both of them, she said,” That’s fascinating, really, but you still haven’t told me how _you_ ended up there. I mean, after what I heard from Sano, I’m terribly curious.” 

“I can imagine,” Kenshin said dryly. “I’ve been wondering the same thing about you, actually. Quite a coincidence that we ended up meeting like that, all things considered.” 

Her hand tightened on the spoon as the waiter bowed slightly to Kenshin and left as silently as he’d arrived. “Um... why... why would you want to know about that?” 

“Fair is fair, kitten. You get to ask questions; I get to ask questions. Otherwise, it’s not a discussion, it’s a monologue. Try the soup; they make a wonderful crab soup with roasted red peppers.” 

Kaoru absently swirled her spoon in the spaces between the spirals of sour cream. She hadn’t been expecting to have to talk about herself, or her own past. Rats. 

“Fine,” she said. “It’s really not that interesting; I had left my English notebook in the auditorium that afternoon and headed back to get it because we had a major test the next day and I needed my notes.” 

“You biked back to school at night just to get a notebook?” Kenshin asked, raising one eyebrow. “Kaoru, do you have any idea how dangerous that could have been, by yourself?” 

“Well, let me think... um.... there could have been demons doing unspeakable things in the auditorium and I could have ended up having to steal one of their swords after killing him and then _burn down_ the school?” Her expression was fiercely annoyed as she looked across the table at him. 

“First of all,” Kenshin said, “I was referring to the biking alone at night, which was a danger you could reasonably have been expected to be aware of. Second, please don’t compare _me_ with those idiots.” 

“Fine,” Kaoru retorted. “Give me a reason not to put all of you into one category. What, exactly, are you, and what do you do when you’re not bothering me?” 

“Ah... I was wondering when you’d get around to asking that,” Kenshin remarked, his mouth quirking up in a smile at her directness. His expression was so amused that she was strongly tempted to throw soup at him. Possibly the entire bowl. Except that it he had been right, it was really good soup, and she refused to give Kenshin the satisfaction of wasting exceptional food on him. If satisfaction was the right word when if came to having soup dumped all over you. Before she could make a decision one way or another, Kenshin’s expression had changed to something more serious and reflective, and he was staring at the candle’s flame as if he was thinking of something entirely different and very far away. 

“There was a time,” Kenshin mused softly, “when humans believed—really _believed_ \-- in demons and spirits and all the things that live just outside of your reality. There was a time when there were those among you who knew how to recognize danger signs, who knew what to do about them. Nowadays, anything supernatural is restricted to television and foolish rubber masks at Halloween and most humans wouldn’t notice a pack of demons if they were standing next to them at the bus stop.” 

Kaoru almost opened her mouth to ask what a pack of demons would be doing waiting at a bus stop, but managed not to. Now that Kenshin was actually talking, now that she had a chance to get some answers after five long years, there was no way she was going to interrupt him just to be sarcastic. 

Continuing, Kenshin said, “But just because nobody notices them doesn’t mean the danger has gone away. In some ways, it’s worse, because nobody grows up learning what to do and what not to do and what to look for, how to protect themselves. Not just against direct attacks, but against... certain forms of persuasion. There are things that demons, _real_ demons can offer that are.... very attractive to humans.” 

“Like, say, popularity, athletic ability, or perfect blonde hair?” Kaoru asked. ‘ _Standard popular teenage boy, out to make trouble and get laid... standard popular teenage girl... same thing, but with more fashion and fewer cars...’_ she thought. _‘Oh, yes, I can see where demonic offers would go over very well.’_

“Exactly. Not to mention wealth and power... although in high school, popularity pretty much gives you as much power as anybody could want. Don’t let your soup get cold just because the conversation is so fascinating, kitten.” 

Kaoru rolled her eyes at that, but did take another couple of spoonfuls as he continued talking. 

“Of course, they almost never think of the consequences. Or of the price that they’ll be asked to pay. Not at first. The group that grabbed Sano... they were... well, let’s just say that they needed a way to pay off some debts, and quickly. They had been rather irresponsible in the way that they made the contract in the first place, actually.” 

“Probably a good thing that they didn’t end up going into business, then,” Kaoru observed, seeing an opportunity to confirm the suspicions she’d had about the connection between what had happened to Sano and what she had read about in the newspaper accounts. 

“Yes, it really was,” Kenshin agreed, then flicked startled eyes up to her face before giving her a slow, admiring smile. ‘Oh, _very_ nicely done, kitten,” he murmured, “Very clever.” 

She blushed and fidgeted under the golden sparks in his gaze, but was saved from replying by another polite knock on the door as a waiter came in bearing a basket of bread that smelled like it had just come out of the oven, and stayed to ask Kenshin several questions about the wine selection as another waiter cleared the table from the soup course. The main course, perfectly cooked steaks thickly coated with cracked pepper and served with baby vegetables and mashed potatoes with rosemary and garlic, smelled wonderful as a third waiter carried in tray with the plates. Kaoru, watching him set it down and move efficiently out of the way of the first waiter, picked up her glass. She went to take a drink and almost choked at the feel of something brushing lightly against her ankle. 

_‘Is that... is Kenshin... playing footsie with me?’_ Kaoru thought, glancing to where he was sitting and saying something to the waiter. Feeling her gaze on him, he flashed her a brief, mischievous grin before returning to his discussion with a very serious expression. Considering that his foot was still lightly caressing her ankle and occasionally venturing to her calf, it was fairly impressive multi-tasking on his part. And entirely the wrong angle to kick him without hitting herself. Just when she was working out if there was a way to do it anyway, he stopped and finished the conversation he was having as if nothing at all had just happened under the table. 

Fine. If he wanted to pretend that nothing had just happened, Kaoru could certainly do the same thing. Especially since she wasn’t quite sure how to bring up what had just happened without either blushing or leaving herself open to sarcastic or suggestive remarks. 

The first waiter returned, bringing a bottle of wine with a label that even Kaoru recognized and waited while Kenshin tested it before nodding his approval. Once the wine had been poured, the waiters left with the same silent efficiency, and she was once again alone with Kenshin. 

“I hope that you approve,” Kenshin said as he began cutting his own steak. 

“It looks wonderful,” Kaoru responded, “And I’m particularly happy that you ordered something where we were given these lovely steak knives. You still have some explaining to do.” 

He laughed at that and gave her another wickedly sparking glance before his face and tone turned serious again. 

“My responsibility, to put it plainly, is to make sure that this world and the humans in it are protected from that which threatens it. Anything that crosses over with harmful intent, participants in any harmful pacts which have been made, anything that seeks human lives or human souls to feed off of, anything which threatens the balance here…” 

“You eliminate,” Kaoru finished for him softly. 

“I eliminate,” Kenshin agreed after a moment, looking directly into her eyes with an expression full of amber and shadow. “Along with any witnesses.” 

There was a moment of utter stillness then, during which Kaoru felt a shiver of that same fear she’d felt in the moment when his eyes had met hers in the auditorium. She had a sudden panicked vision of the last meals given to condemned prisoners, and it took real effort not to clutch at the handle of her knife in defensive panic. 

“So why didn’t you eliminate me?” she asked finally, keeping her tone calm. “You had time to; I know you did. Why did you... do what you did instead?” 

Raising his glass to his lips, Kenshin replied, “I think it’s my turn to ask another question, kitten. We’ve already covered why you came to the school that night... how about you tell me how exactly you ended up in a closet, sitting on that ridiculous bucket—without even turning it over, I might add—instead of heading back home to hide under your bed?” 

“There was always too much stuff under my bed,” Kaoru replied absently, wincing inwardly. It was one thing to grill Kenshin about unpleasant subjects; being the one grilled was an entirely different level of disturbance. She took several more bites of steak and mashed potatoes before finally replying. 

“When I ran... I thought about running away, but... All I could see was how dangerous you were, and there was no way I was leading danger like that back to my family... And I wasn’t happy with the idea of leaving you to stalk the school, knowing what you might do....” Her tone was quiet, introspective, and she couldn’t quite look him in the eye. “I mean, I didn’t know... well, anyway, I wasn’t going to let you, not if I could help it. And it was pretty clear that you weren’t going to let me get away, anyway.”

“So why did you hide, instead of trying to attack?” 

She couldn’t believe that she was having this discussion, but answered, “I’m short... I mean, I’m used to fighting opponents who are a lot, well, bigger. And scarier. Although not as scary as you are. Were... are. Dad always taught us that it’s vital to be able to re-direct an opponent’s energy, and he especially told me that it’s not a bad thing if whoever I’m fighting looks at me and just sees a little girl. Makes them careless. And if they’re careless, then you have an advantage that outweighs size or strength. You were expecting helpless and scared, so I figured that the only chance I had...” 

“Was to act the way that I expected,” Kenshin finished, nodding in agreement and approval. “I’m impressed that you kept your grip on the knife so well.” 

“Taped it to my wrist,” Kaoru shrugged, reaching for her wineglass. This conversation definitely required a drink.

“You taped...” He seemed genuinely at a loss for words, but finally said, “Well, that explains it.” 

“My turn. Did I actually... I mean, were you really... I mean, um... how long were you...” 

“Dead?” Kenshin helpfully finished for her. “Yes, you did; yes, I was; and I would guess about a half an hour, although, really, it was hard for me to tell exactly. The building was on fire when I woke up again, if that helps.” 

“Mmm... ok. How come you didn’t _stay_ dead?” 

“If we’re taking turns,” Kenshin said as he cut more of his steak, “then I get to ask the next question. Why did you take my sword? It’s not like it was nicely propped up against the wall. You would have had to actually move my body to get to it, especially since you took the sheath as well.” 

“Can we _please_ not talk about your body?” Kaoru implored, then blushed at the way Kenshin raised one eyebrow. “I mean, um, when you were dead. Or when you weren’t. Or at all, and...um... it was because I was worried about what would happen if some idiot found it and decided to start swinging it around or something. I mean, for all I knew, it was possessed or something.” 

“For future reference, kitten; try _not_ to randomly pick up potentially possessed weapons, ok? It just means that I end up with more work to do.” 

She scowled at him and stabbed at a carrot with her fork. “I said it _might_ have been possessed! And what exactly was I supposed to do? I couldn’t just leave it there; that would have been dangerous!” 

“You could have left it to burn with the rest of the school,” he shrugged. “Disposed of it that way.”

“Excuse me, but I know what the melting point of high carbon steel is, and even assuming that your sword doesn’t have spiffy anti-fire charms or something on it, the school fire was _not_ going to reach that temperature. Well, unless the boiler exploded, maybe. But that was on the other side of the building and... look, I just wasn’t going to leave a dangerous weapon out in the open, where it could be found by anybody else who had never seen what it was capable of!” Kaoru snapped, eyes flashing. 

“True enough,” Kenshin agreed, “And I appreciate that you wanted to get it someplace where you could protect it as much as possible. That was... well, considering the stresses you must have been under after everything else...” he trailed off. 

“Precisely!” Kaoru agreed “Although if you have specific suggestions or a pamphlet or something about demonic weapons and how to deal with them, I would appreciate it for next time.” 

Startled, Kenshin looked at her, his expression blank. “N-Next time?” he finally managed. “Oh, no, I don’t think...” 

“Kenshin, I’ve gotten kidnapped, Yahiko got attacked, you’ve been running around doing “work,” and I strongly suspect that something happened to Misao that she’s not talking about yet. How exactly is it _not_ practical and sensible to take preventive measures, hmm?” 

“Jineh is dead, what happened to Yahiko is being taken care of, and Aoshi can take care of Misao if...” Kenshin countered. 

Interrupting him, Kaoru exclaimed, “Ha! I _knew_ that he was another demon; I just _knew_ it! And don’t change the subject. I’m not planning on charging into dark alleys or anything; you’re the one who said that humans nowadays don’t know how to protect themselves, and I’m saying that if you have any tips on how we could, I would appreciate them.” 

Unspoken was her thought that being around Kenshin was likely to mean running into more supernatural things than your average bear. Especially if... 

_‘No! Just because this is... date-like doesn’t mean that we’re actually on a date. And definitely not that it will happen again. This is a discussion that was long overdue, and after the air has been cleared, we can just go back to... well, “normal” really isn’t the word, but... um... something that makes my life less confusing, which further date-like activities would definitely NOT do...’_

Shoving those thoughts aside for the moment, Kaoru continued, “Besides which, it’s not just for me; what about Yahiko? I mean, I sincerely doubt he was being pestered by evil flying kittens...” Kaoru paused and blinked. “It wasn’t evil flying kittens, was it?” 

“It was something that shouldn’t have been attacking your brother.” 

Her eyes narrowed and she said tightly, “ _Anything_ attacking my brother is something that shouldn’t be attacking my brother. Be more specific, please.” 

Kenshin had the grace to look apologetic as he replied, “You’re right, of course; what I meant was, it was something that shouldn’t have been out in this world in the first place.” 

“Wait— _what?_ ” Kaoru demanded, “It shouldn’t have been... you mean that somebody made... made one of those pacts that you were talking about, or... or...” 

“No, it wasn’t a pact,” Kenshin answered, “And before you start worrying about it, nothing was trying to grab Yahiko for blood sacrifice purposes.” 

Kaoru opened her mouth, looking as if she was about to ask a question Kenshin had no intention of answering. 

_‘There is no way—NO way-- that I’m going to tell her that Henya would have killed her brother just for sport.’_

“So, kitten, what on _earth_ did you tell your grandfather to explain why you suddenly had a sword and needed to put charms on it? I mean, did you tell him that you had been engaging in constructive arson, or did you leave that part out and just focus on how you had to kill a demon in the Home Ec room?”

“Of course I didn’t tell him anything about the fire! Or, um, about... well, the auditorium. Or the Home Ec room. It was bad enough telling him about the sword!” 

Kenshin nodded his head in understanding. “Of course; I can see where that would be difficult to tell him, especially considering his age. Was it very disturbing for him?” 

She rolled her eyes. “Are you _kidding_? He thought it was great! One of _his_ grandchildren, happening upon a demonic weapon? Yes, I said, “happening upon,” deal with it. If I’d told him the details, nothing would have stopped him from charging over to the school, charms in hand, ready to slap them on _anything_ he thought might _possibly_ be demonic, including the pigeons and the biology class’s guinea pig, and yelling “Demon, begone!” at the top of his lungs.” 

“That would certainly have traumatized the guinea pig,” Kenshin agreed before eating some more vegetables. “And once you’d explained how you’d... err... “happened upon” my sword, he suggested putting charms on it and keeping it under your bed? Or was that you?” 

“Aren’t we supposed to be alternating questions?” she demanded. 

“Yes, we are. So, who came up with the idea?” 

“Hey! You just said we were alternating! That makes it my turn!” 

“I answered your question. That leaves you with one to answer.” 

Kaoru closed her mouth as she mentally replayed the last parts of their conversation, then glared at him. “Fine. He said he couldn’t destroy it, and he couldn’t do the equivalent of locking it up in a vault, then he suggested that he take it to a temple he knew and hide it. Then I said that I really wanted to know where it was, and I _didn’t_ want anybody at some temple to start asking awkward questions, because I just knew that they would.. er...” 

“Not be as easy to fool as your grandfather?” 

The look she gave him clearly wanted to be indignant, but it failed in the face of how close his surmise was to exactly what she’d been thinking. 

“As I said, awkward questions would have resulted. Besides which, it seemed very important to me to have it where I could keep more of an eye on it. That way, I wouldn’t have to have nightmares about you suddenly turning up with... um... never mind.” 

The way that Kenshin frowned indicated that her reference to nightmares had not gone unnoticed. Based on his behavior the other night, when he had gotten a taste of what her bad dreams could be like, she knew that he was unlikely to let the issue drop. Hastily forestalling anything he might say, Kaoru blurted out, “So... why didn’t you kill Sano?” 

Kenshin blinked. “Why didn’t I kill... _Sano_?” he asked, perplexed. It was clear that he hadn’t expected that question. 

Happy to have successfully changed the subject to something less personal, Kaoru repeated, “Yes, why not? He said he was sure you were going to; you said that witnesses get eliminated. Do potential sacrifices get special privileges? Do not get killed, do not pass Go, do not collect 200 dollars?” 

“Ah... no... I mean,” Kenshin twirled the stem of his wineglass between his fingers thoughtfully. Finally, his expression turning serious, he sighed and said, “Sano was right; I should have killed him. The rules are there for a reason, because....” He put the glass back down and continued, “But you asked why I didn’t kill him. And that’s a good question to ask. Not to be cliché, but it was at least partially because he asked me if I was going to and clearly expected the answer to be yes. He had enough spirit to do that; to not just turn and run or break down crying, even after what he had been through, after what he had seen. Most people don’t... don’t show that kind of strength.” 

“And that strength made him worth saving?” Kaoru asked, trying to understand everything as clearly as possible. 

“Yes; it was a good indication that he would be able to get over it, that he wouldn’t have any problems afterwards. Or at least nothing that he couldn’t handle. Besides which, I knew from some of the things I’d overheard that those idiots considered themselves to be extremely lucky to have caught Sano when he was obviously heading out of town and wouldn’t really be missed. So I knew that he was leaving anyway, rather than sticking around where he might get asked awkward questions or be faced with the aftermath.” 

Kaoru nodded, thinking this through as she absent-mindedly swirled her fork around in the mashed potatoes. There was something that Kenshin was leaving out, she was sure of it; about why exactly they usually killed witnesses, and that was definitely something worth asking him... 

“Assuming Misao was right at the mall, how on earth is it that you’re still a virgin after all this time?” 

She was positive that her face was the color of the wine in their glasses. “I... you... _WHAT?_ Why ... that ... It’s ...” Kaoru choked out, after several not entirely successful attempts to breathe. 

“I said, how on earth ...” 

“I _heard_ you, you... you... perverted, unscrupulous, overly-personal-question-asking, smirking...” 

“How am I unscrupulous?” Kenshin asked, raising one eyebrow and clearly trying to keep from laughing at Kaoru’s tirade.

“Every way imaginable,” she ground out through gritted teeth. Her fingers were clenched so tightly around the handle of her fork that her knuckles had gone white and Kenshin couldn’t swear that they wouldn’t leave marks. 

“Very possible,” he said smoothly, “but that doesn’t answer my question. You’re a very attractive, healthy young woman; you went to college and lived in the dorms and that apartment on-campus; it’s a perfectly logical thing to ask.” 

“Your logic does _not_ resemble our Earth logic,” she snapped, glaring at him with enough force to set the floral arrangement on fire. When he showed no sign of backing down or arguing, she finally bit out “You know what my social life was—or wasn’t—in high school. When I went to college, I had other things to focus on, like teaching classes at the dojo and getting my degrees as quickly as possible so that I could be independent and help out with saving up for Yahiko’s college education. There wasn’t time to be in a serious relationship, even assuming I had met somebody I could stand for long enough for the issue to come up.” 

Before Kenshin could say anything, or Kaoru could figure out if she could reach him with her fork if she tried hard enough, there was a soft knock and the waiter came in to retrieve the plates. Kenshin said complimentary things about the meal, to which Kaoru nodded and gave a somewhat frozen smile. Remembering what he had done the last time the waiters were in their room, Kaoru proceeded to aim a solid kick at his ankle. Kenshin’s eyes widened slightly at the impact, but he gave no other sign that anything had happened. When Kaoru went to pull her foot back, she found it trapped under one of his and couldn’t move it no matter how hard she pulled. She raised her chin and shot him a glare, preparing to use her other leg, but stopped when she felt Kenshin’s sock-clad foot tracing patterns on her ankle again. This time, he kept venturing up her calf, taking advantage of the way her leg was stretched out underneath the table. 

Kaoru barely noticed when the waiters carried in dessert, staring at Kenshin as he calmly stared back, the amber sparks in his eyes the only indication that he knew that he had reached her knee and was continuing to move upwards. She had been sure her face couldn’t get any redder than it had been, but apparently she had been wrong. 

The minute the waiter had closed the door behind him, Kaoru snapped, “ _Stop_ that this minute and let my foot up, or I’ll make you wish that you had never gotten up off that Home Ec room floor!” 

Grinning, he complied, unfazed by the storm clouds in her expression. Gesturing towards the plates in front of them, Kenshin explained, “I had them prepare a sampler of their different desserts, since they do such a good job with so many of them. If you’d like to try anything from my plate, just let me know, alright kitten?” 

“That’s terrific,” Kaoru said tightly, “Now, how the hell do I kill you?” 

The fact that his response was a full-throated laugh that made something warm slide down the nerves in her spine did not improve her temper. When he was finally able to look her in the eyes again, Kenshin answered, “I think you did very well last time, kitten, with the stabbing. It was both fast and effective. Don’t try anything like stakes; that works for vampires, but otherwise the splinters are just annoying. Also,” he said thoughtfully, “I wouldn’t recommend bullets or fire, either alone or in combination. They’re a lot less effective than you might think.” 

“I meant _permanently_ , you jackass!” she snarled. “I know what I did last time, and if I’d done “very well,” we wouldn’t be _having_ this conversation, now would we? And stop trying to get out of answering by telling me what _doesn’t_ work.” 

“Ah, well, that _is_ a different issue,” Kenshin agreed. “Hey, is that panna cotta?” 

“Keep that fork on your side of the table,” Kaoru warned. “And, yes. So how do I kill you _permanently_ , since that’s a different issue?” 

“Isn’t it my turn to ask a question?” Kenshin asked, raising one eyebrow at her as he dug into what looked like a mini crème brulee. 

“No,” Kaoru said sweetly, “You already asked if this was panna cotta. And I answered, because I was raised to be polite. Would decapitation work, or am I going to have to start looking around for a steam roller to throw you under?” 

“Don’t know,” Kenshin answered with a shrug, “Haven’t ever been decapitated. Although it would definitely be harder to come back from something like that than being stabbed, if that helps.” 

Kaoru muttered something under her breath and took several bites of what was admittedly an excellent panna cotta with raspberries. She really wished that Kenshin would stop giving her such outstanding food whenever she was working so hard to be furious at him. Exhaling, she looked up to see Kenshin’s eyes on her. His expression was hard to decipher, but he seemed to be thinking about what he would say next. 

“Are you enjoying being here with me?” Kenshin asked her, his eyes never leaving her face. 

“I....” Kaoru blinked, startled. The question was not at all what she had expected, and she really wasn’t sure what it meant that he had asked it. She wasn’t even sure how to think about it, let alone what to say in response. “I... that’s... um...” 

_‘Well, since we seem to be being honest with each other...._ ’ 

Taking a deep breath, Kaoru softly said, “That’s a very hard question to answer. I’m not sure that I even know how to answer it. You are often _very_ aggravating, and the food is annoyingly good, because it would be much easier to hate this evening if the food was horrible. And don’t get me started on that thing you were doing with your foot, because then I’d have to kick you some more, and I wouldn’t aim for your ankle. But I am... it’s good to get some answers, and finally get to figure things out, and I like that we’re finally talking about things, except when you’re asking embarrassing questions, which is definitely not good, although at least Misao and Megumi aren’t here, although then they’d be able to think of embarrassing questions to ask _you_ , which I wish I’d thought of asking them before so that I would have had them ready for tonight. And... um... I suppose... that is, overall, probably, yes. Um.” 

“Good,” Kenshin said, softly, a glow in his eyes that made Kaoru’s cheeks redden again as she reached for her wine glass to cover her awkwardness. 

_‘Great, my turn, and what on earth do I ask him to follow up that question? Ask him why he has this strange fondness for going after my neck in a not exactly traditionally demonic fashion? Or whether he ever really dated any of the cheerleaders who were always batting their eyelashes at him and... and... doing that slinking thing? Not that I care either way, because I definitely don’t, but it would be something to ask... Why he sometimes has fangs and sometimes doesn’t? What he’s been doing for the past however long he’s been working on his most recent project? Which is definitely a more important question than the other ones, and I can’t believe it took me this long to think of it. I’ll blame it on the fact that he’s still staring. Like that.”_

“What exactly is the “work” that you’ve been off doing since, um, right after that thing with Jineh?” 

Kenshin’s face turned serious and he said, “I can’t tell you everything about it, Kaoru. It’s complicated.” 

“Can you answer yes or no questions?” 

“Yes.” 

“Is it connected with what happened with Jineh?” 

“No.” 

“Is it anything to do with what attacked Yahiko?” 

He hesitated before answering, “There’s not a _direct_ connection, no.” 

“What about some kind of indirect connection?” 

“That’s something that I can’t tell you about right now,” Kenshin answered, his expression tinged with something almost apologetic. 

Kaoru bit her lip. “But it’s something to do with demons? With your job?” 

“Yes. And yes.” 

“Is it something to do with humans making pacts with demons?” 

“No... well, not that we’ve discovered yet.” 

“Is it bigger than a breadbox?” Kaoru asked, slightly frustrated. 

“What?” 

“Never mind.” Thinking about what else she wanted to ask Kenshin about, Kaoru said, “Was whoever called you in the mall connected to those “orders” you and Jineh mentioned?” 

“I can’t really talk about that.” 

“But you do get orders, right? About your job?” 

“Most jobs involve orders, kitten. Of one kind or another.” 

“Fine. Is it another high school thing?”

“No.” 

She gritted her teeth. _‘Darn it... this is like pulling teeth! Or, um, fangs. Why can’t he just give a straight explanation?’_

“Do you have _any_ idea how annoying you are?” 

“Yes.” Kenshin said, giving her another cheerful grin. 

Stifling an urge to swat him with her spoon, Kaoru took a deep breath and thought about what she had managed to pry out of him so far. “OK... so... you said something that shouldn’t be here attacked Yahiko. This job you’re doing... is it about things that are here that shouldn’t be?” 

“Yes,” Kenshin finally said after a significant pause. “And that’s really all I can say about it, although I promise to tell you more once it’s been taken care of.” He dug his spoon into the other small ramekin on his dessert plate, something that looked deep and rich and chocolatey. 

Kaoru opened her mouth to ask how Kenshin could be sure that she wouldn’t end up involved before then, especially after what had happened with Yahiko, but before she could say anything, he had taken advantage of her opened mouth to spoon-feed her what was quite definitely the most amazing chocolate mousse she’d ever had in her entire life. 

“Here; try this, it’s one of their specialties,” Kenshin said as he pulled the spoon back from where she had automatically closed her lips around it. Kaoru would have glared at him, and she had several cutting remarks prepared, but first she closed her eyes and savored the way the mousse managed to be both intensely flavored, dark chocolate with a hint of bourbon vanilla, and light at the same time. For several long seconds, she simply sat there and communed with the chocolate, and when she opened her eyes again after swallowing, her eyes widened at the way Kenshin’s expression had turned intent and amber, his eyes following the motion as she swallowed again, her throat gone suddenly dry. 

“Trying to choke me will not stop me from asking awkward questions,” she finally managed, darting a glance down at her plate before she looked up at him again. “So, are you and Aoshi working together on this? Is it just the two of you?” 

“Ah, ah, kitten; I get a question now,” Kenshin said smoothly, the corners of his mouth turning up. “So...” he said, his eyes traveling over her face, “were you really attracted to me back in high school, or is it just a recent development?” 

“I was _not_! I mean, no! I mean, don’t believe everything Misao says; she drinks far too much coffee. Why on earth would you even care about something like that?” 

“A man likes to know where he stands with a woman,” Kenshin said easily, still looking at her with that same expression, “Why are you so twitchy about answering, kitten?” 

“I’m not twitchy; don’t call me kitten; and if I were to be twitchy about anything, it would be the way that you keep making high-handed, arrogant assumptions about every female in your immediate vicinity automatically swooning over you like idiot lovestruck teenagers, which most of them are in the first place. How old _are_ you anyway?” 

“In human years or according to the way that we calculate things?” 

Kaoru blinked. “Well, that answers more than I actually asked,” she managed. If Kenshin had to adopt two different scales for calculating his own age... “Isn’t that at least slightly, oh, I don’t know, I mean, you’re pretending to be a teenager, with the social life and the dating and the cheerleaders and ... and... do you really think that you should be if you’re... older?” 

Raising one eyebrow, Kenshin murmured, “I _do_ love watching you get jealous, kitten.” Ignoring her sputtered protest, he grinned and said, “I told you before; I didn’t date any of them. No matter how much they... how did you put it? Plastered themselves all over me in the library. I never pursued any of the girls I met in high school. You’re the only one.” 

“Yes, because I’d taken your stupid sword,” Kaoru snapped back, thoroughly annoyed. 

There was a momentary pause, during which Kenshin opened his mouth to say something, then closed it, his expression completely flummoxed. Seeing an opportunity, Kaoru continued, “I still think it’s disturbing, and probably illegal in several states, and don’t think that just because you’re a demon you can...” 

Her tirade was cut short by the sudden sensation of being bodily hauled out of her chair, and she was still trying to catch her breath as she felt her back being pressed up against the wall of the booth and Kenshin’s breath warm against the skin of her neck. Looking up, startled, Kaoru met amber eyes, alight with sparks. She opened her mouth to say something, though she had no idea what, but was interrupted by Kenshin’s lips claiming hers, fierce and hungry. His arms went around her as her knees went weak, molding her body against his as one hand pulled her hips hard against him, leaving her in no doubt about the effect their contact was having on him. Kaoru whimpered in the back of her throat at the way his tongue tangled with hers, fire shooting along her nerves to pool at the base of her spine. 

When he finally pulled away, they were both panting, and his voice was harsh as he breathed into her ear. “Make no mistake, Kaoru; I _am_ happy to have my sword back. It was made especially for me and it makes my work much easier. But if I ever, _ever_ hear you start to suggest that wanting to get my sword back was the reason I began pursuing you, then you’re going to find yourself naked underneath me, screaming my name, until I’m convinced that you’ve gotten past that particular idea.” 

She looked up at him, eyes wide and dark in the candlelight, lips slightly parted as she breathed. He could see the exact moment when his words registered, because she went completely still, then stammered, “I... you... but you were... and you never... I mean, you always... “ 

He silenced her with a series of kisses along her jaw, his tongue flicking out against her skin, and murmured, “Keep going with that sentence, kitten, and you’re going to discover how sturdy this table really is.” 

Kaoru squeaked out a word that might have been “Restaurant! Ken—“ but then her eyes fluttered shut at the feel of his lips sliding across hers again, and it took a soft knock on the door to bring them both back to reality. By the time the door opened, Kenshin was back at the table, the burning gold of his eyes the only sign of what had just been interrupted. Kaoru took advantage of her position to bolt out the door in what she hoped was a composed and ladylike fashion, stopping only to ask the nearest waiter where the ladies’ room was located. 

_‘Oh, my various deities...’_ Kaoru thought, staring at herself in the mirror; the way her cheeks were flushed and her lips definitely kiss-swollen, the slightly shell-shocked expression in her eyes. _‘He... he just... and he said he would... but I was so sure that that was the reason... except for those bits where I wasn’t. Does this mean that he was... I mean, that even the times before he got his sword back... I don’t think I can deal with this right now... I think I’ve reached my limit on Things to Deal With for the night, and possibly the entire week, and what the hell just happened in there?’_

She was thankful that there seemed to be very few people in the restroom, and she could take a few minutes to simply breathe deeply. She would have closed her eyes, but she had a feeling that that would just bring back memories of how it had felt to have Kenshin wrapping himself around her and the way that sparks had shot through her everywhere they’d touched. So instead she stared at the soap dish, then tried counting the number of tiles that had little flowers painted on them. In the end, Kaoru wasn’t entirely sure how long she had stayed there, nor was she certain she was entirely ready to head back to the room. 

However, since she _was_ fairly certain that Kenshin would have no compunction about kicking down the door to the ladies’ room if he felt she was taking too long, and since there was no good way that she could see of getting out through one of the windows, Kaoru eventually squared her shoulders, gave herself a resolute nod in the mirror, and headed back out. 

Kenshin was sitting at the table, looking enviably unruffled, and Kaoru shot him a semi-glare. He smiled at her and said, “The waiter wanted to know if we wanted anything else: coffee, espresso, a nightcap... I told him I’d have to ask my lovely companion.” 

Holding her head up, Kaoru refused to rise to the bait, instead saying, “Thank you, but I really should be heading back home. And I never drink caffeine this late at night anyway. However, don’t let me stop you if you’re interested in anything.” At his raised eyebrow and suddenly wicked expression, she hastily added, “To drink!” 

“Alright, kitten, if you want me to take you home now, that’s perfectly fine. Wouldn’t want you to get exhausted from staying out too late.” 

As he gracefully stood up from the table, it was on the tip of Kaoru’s tongue to tell him that she was perfectly capable of finding her way home by calling a taxi, before she remembered that he lived in the same building, on the same floor, and that spending the money on a taxi would thus make no sense and suggesting it would probably result in more remarks that she was sure she didn’t want to deal with at the moment. She exhaled, peeved that her clever plan had been thwarted before she could even implement it, and followed him out to the foyer. 

After having fetched their coats, Kenshin helped her into hers, his hands lingering briefly on her shoulders. She frowned slightly as he put his own on and then turned towards the door, and asked, “Um... Kenshin? Don’t we have to pay for dinner?”

He gave her a brilliant smile and said, “This was me taking you out for dinner, kitten, and I already told you that I had made arrangements with the chef. It’s all taken care of.”

“Y-you... this... you just... were we just on a _date_?” Kaoru demanded, more than slightly shocked and aghast.

“Of course we were; what on earth did you think was going on?” Kenshin asked in an amused tone of voice.

Her voice was a hissed whisper as she darted glances at the maitre’d and the incoming diners. “We were most certainly _not_ on a date—we were having a long overdue discussion, with food!”

“And kissing.” Kenshin reminded her cheerfully, slipping an arm around her shoulder. “I would hate to think that the kissing was so easily overlooked. Although I’m more than happy to remind you about it as soon as we get outside again.”

“That was not _date_ kissing, that was... that was... the kissing of you being annoying and trying to prove a point and that doesn’t count, because you keep using that as a tactic to try to...”

This time, he stopped right in the middle of the foyer and pulled her into his embrace and didn’t let go until she made a faint moaning noise in the back of her throat. Karou blinked at him, then flushed bright red as she noticed the amused stares of the other patrons, and the faint grin on the face of the normally unflappable maitre’d. Kenshin took advantage of her shock to pull her towards the entrance, his arm around her shoulder and his body pressed against hers as he whispered in her ear, “It was very _definitely_ a date, Karou; get used to the idea. I have no problem with kissing you in foyers, or restaurant booths, or anywhere else that I have to to win this argument.”

“You can’t take somebody on a date without asking them first; it doesn’t count!” Kaoru retorted as they exited the building.

“Kitten,” Kenshin answered, clearly stifling a laugh, “if I’d asked you first, it wouldn’t have been a surprise! Most women appreciate romantic surprises, you know.”

Her eyes narrowed and she had started opening her mouth to utter a scathing reply, when another voice cut across their conversation as smoothly as a blade.

“Well, good evening... Mr. Himura...”

The young man who stood in the pool of light under the streetlamp was even more slightly-built than Kenshin, with pale skin as if he didn’t normally see the sun. He had a broad, guileless grin on his face, and his tone was full of cheerful satisfaction. But neither reached his eyes, which reflected the light flatly, like a mirrored surface with nothing underneath.

“Oh, yay, “Kaoru muttered under her breath, “... a surprise.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Chapter: The perfect not-ending to the perfect not-date... 
> 
> In this chapter I don’t own: Yogi Bear (who is smarter than the average bear), the “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” episode “The Wish,” (in which Xander’s logic does not resemble our earth logic), and various parts of “Inuyasha” (either Kagome’s charm-bearing grandfather, or the VERY silly VIZ tendency to translate “Sankon Tessu” as “Demon, begone!” which to me always sounded like it should be some kind of spot remover. The anime translation of “Iron Reaver, Soul Stealer!” always sounded better). I also don’t own Monopoly. Or the brilliant and hysterical webcomic “Sluggy Freelance,” which this chapter has a secret shout-out to (It’s a secret because I just want to see if anybody gets it. Hee.)


	30. Gentle Into That Good Night

Kaoru had only a second to register the details of his appearance when she found herself behind Kenshin again, his left arm holding her in place while his other hand suddenly brandished a sword that shone silver in the moonlight.

_‘Hey... when did he.. he’s had that the whole time? Or... rats, I should have asked him where he keeps his sword, that would have been a useful question...’_

Once again, Kaoru found herself peeping over Kenshin’s shoulder as he stood, still and tense and clearly furious, not reacting at all when she poked him in annoyance to move his arm and let her get a better look. She couldn’t tell what color his eyes were, but was willing to bet that they had once again returned to a furious, burning amber.

“What are _you_ doing here?” Kenshin bit out, the syllables clipped and tense. The youth’s smile only grew broader as he replied “Now, Mr. Himura, is that any way to talk to an old acquaintance? I think you know why I’m here. Consider it.. a friendly warning. Master Shishio would hate for you to think that your recent endeavours had gone unnoticed. But since it would be a shame to waste time in further efforts, he requested that I take a moment to talk to you.. and your lovely dinner companion,” he finished, his eyes flicking briefly to Kaoru.

Kenshin instantly moved as if to intercept his gaze, and his low growl rumbled through the hands that she had pressed up against his back. She refused to cower against him, staring at the scene in front of her, trying to mark everything that she could so that she could remember it later and ask questions.

With a mocking bow, and a smile that still entirely failed to reach his eyes, the other man said, “Having delivered my message, I wish you a good evening, Mr. Himura. A very good evening to you both.” He turned, and Kaoru noticed for the first time that he was carrying a sword at his waist as well, the sheath gleaming dull and black. Then he stepped out of the circle of light under the lamp, and between one breath and the next, he was simply gone. 

For several long moments, Kenshin simply stood, every muscle tensed and ready, staring fixedly at the spot where he had disappeared, hand clenched around the hilt of his sword. Kaoru considered whether to step forward and investigate the area around the lamp, but Kenshin’s arm was still preventing her from moving very far. Besides which, she really didn’t want to accidentally walk into some kind of interdimensional rift or wormhole or whatever had just been used. Even from where she was standing she could see that something about the shadows on the other side of the lamp was slightly off, a shade or two deeper than the darkness around them. 

Her attention was diverted from the shadows by the faint sound of Kenshin letting out a long breath. Turning to her, he said, “Let’s get you home, kitten. I.. there seem to be some rather unsavory elements lurking tonight.”

“And how do we know that the, um, unsavory elements aren’t going to be following us?” Kaoru asked, raising one eyebrow. She could still remember the way that Jineh had carefully stalked before striking, and she had no intention of letting that happen again, to herself or any of the people in her life. 

“He’s gone. He was just here to deliver a message; they know perfectly well that there’s no way he could skulk around without my knowing it. Even if he hadn’t shown his face, I would have known he was in the area if he tried to follow us.” 

“If _who_ was trying to follow us?” Kaoru said, wishing that Kenshin would at least have given a name instead of just using pronouns. It was extremely vexing that he hadn’t slipped up even once. 

Without answering, Kenshin put his arm around her waist and continued to proceed to the parking lot. Kaoru was slightly bothered, although not really surprised, to see that his sword was no longer hanging at his side. Darting a glance upwards, she noted that his expression was dark and furious, golden eyes narrowed in concentration. In fact, she wasn’t entirely certain how much of his attention was with her and how much was directed entirely elsewhere. 

_‘OK, I don’t want to pester him, but there are clearly things going on that I need to know about... he might have been right at dinner that he couldn’t talk about things, but I really do think that the situation has just changed. ’_

When they reached the car, Kenshin opened the door for her and then closed it once she was inside. By the time he’d gotten in and started the engine, Kaoru was ready to try ask questions again, figuring that the practical actions of having to deal with doors and driving might have snapped Kenshin out of his distracted state. 

“Who exactly is Shishio?” Kaoru asked, latching on to the name their strange visitor had so-casually dropped. “I mean, am I correct in assuming that he’s a demon?” 

Kenshin made a non-commital noise that Kaoru would almost have classified as a grunt. Sighing, she tried again. 

“Was the boy with the sword a demon?” 

This time she definitely would have called the noise that he made a grunt. His eyes were fixed on the road in front of them, hands tense on the steering wheel. Kaoru supposed she should consider herself lucky that his driving was still as smooth and competent as ever, not hint of internal tension leaking out to make her nervous about the way they were moving through the darkened city. 

“Do all demons carry swords? All real demons, I mean. Or is it just some of you?” 

“No...” Kenshin answered absently. She rolled her eyes. She supposed it was her own fault for having asked two questions at the same time when Kenshin was already clearly not paying complete attention. Thinking about it, she decided that he had probably answered the first question rather than the second one. 

_‘Yay, actual information. I mean, I would have guessed that answer, that not all demons carry swords, because, well, swords aren’t so much automatically associated with demons... but it’s nice to get something confirmed.’_

“So, I take it that.. this Shishio, and that boy... that’s something to do with what you’ve been working on recently?” 

“Mmmm....” 

Kaoru shot him an annoyed glance. She had a strong suspicion that Kenshin was deliberately avoiding saying anything about her brother, probably because he thought it would make her rush off and do something rash. Not that he was wrong about it, necessarily, but she really wished he would at least give her the information and then let her make her own decisions about what constituted rash behavior. 

“And it’s connected to whatever attacked Yahiko?” 

This time, there was only silence as Kenshin shifted gears and navigated a turn. Deciding that a change of topic might help the conversation, Kaoru commented, “Wow, not a lot of traffic tonight, is there...” 

“Hmmm....” 

“How many boards would the Mongols hoard if the Mongol hordes got bored?” 

This time, Kenshin actually blinked as he said, “What?” 

“Nothing. Never mind.” 

Kaoru sighed, pursing her lips and exhaling as she stared out the window. It was no fun trying to verbally fence with somebody who had apparently already put their weapons away for the evening. 

_‘Guess the restaurant used up my quota of answers for the evening... I suppose I should be grateful that I’m not getting any more information tonight, because it just might make my poor overloaded brain blow up. Kenshin’s a demon, who exterminates other demons, and humans who have made contracts with demons... which kind of sort of makes him—Ye Gods!—a good guy. Or at least on the side of law and order and, um, demonic chaos being prevented. That’s a lot to think about right there, actually, without mysterious missives in the moonlight.... lurkers in the lamplight.... Late night visits by short smiley guys who clearly have met Kenshin before, darn it.’_

For the rest of the drive, Kaoru stared moodily out the window and counted the streetlights. Kenshin stared at the road with a set expression that didn’t leave his face until they were pulling into the parking lot of their complex. 

He went around to open her door for her, but she had already opened it up and was getting out by the time he got there. The fact that Kenshin had once again put on a more cheerful expression only made Kaoru’s eyes narrowed further. 

_‘He was upset! And I know this on account of the also being there at the time! Which he knows, because, well, he was standing right next to me! So after that, and an entire drive chock full of non-responsiveness, he thinks that I’m going to fall for a cheerful grin and “What random demonic boy?” expression? Oh, I don’t think so! If this is going to be any kind of a relationship, then we have to be equal in it and share, and I did not just think that. I did not. I am perfectly happy to have him clam up because it clearly means we are not involved which is a good thing because I don’t want to be involved with him even if he is technically a good guy, sort of...’_

Kaoru was very glad that the walk to the building was so short. Glaring at the cracks in the pavement wasn’t really any fun, but she was fairly certain that seeing Kenshin determinedly looking cheerful and still not responding to her questions would lead her to smack him. She was just glad that he didn’t try to say anything beyond a few brief comments on the weather and an inquiry after Misao’s health. Once he had courteously opened the door for her, she turned to face him, plastered a cheerful grin on her face, and said, “Thank you, Kenshin, for an _interesting_ evening, it was terribly informative. Please do tell Megumi and Misao that if they ever try to do something like that again, I’ll gut them with a salad fork and then throw them into the river, ok? I’m going to check my mail, so have a good night, and I’ll see you.. well, whenever! Night!” 

With that, she shook his hand briefly, pulling away before he had time to do more than look faintly startled, and ducked through the doors into the mailroom. Then, just to add veracity to her statement, Kaoru unlocked her mailbox and looked inside. True, she had last checked that afternoon, and thus wasn’t expecting to find anything, but she’d said she was going to check her mail, and that’s what she was doing. 

Although normally she didn’t stand there and count to a hundred before closing her mailbox again and heading out towards the stairs. 

_‘Look left; look right.. no demon, that’s good... I hate wearing heels while going up stairs..or down stairs... or along flat surfaces...or at all, stupid insidious demands of fashion and my friends... .’_

Kaoru was casually trying to plan out her schedule for the next day, including the obligatory Halloween costume shopping with her friends, thinking ahead to the rest of her week, and mentally congratulating herself on having survived various and sundry aspects of her evening as she reached her door. 

“You know, kitten,” a low, lazy drawl came from the other side of the hallway, “shaking hands is hardly the proper way to end a first date...” 

Spinning, Kaoru barely had time to squeak before she found herself pressed up against her doorframe, the hands she had raised up pressing against Kenshin’s chest as his arms wrapped around her. 

Kenshin made a satisfied noise against the skin of her throat and ran his tongue over her pulsepoint before he murmured, “Thank you, Kaoru..,” following each word with a kiss against her neck, moving upwards, “for a very...” Kenshin nibbled on her earlobe and breathed the next words into her ear in a way that made a faint gasp escape from her throat.. “ _very_ lovely evening.” His hands were roaming up and down her back, leaving trails of warmth along her nerves. 

Leaning back slightly, he looked into her eyes with a satisfied amber expression and raised one hand to twirl one strand of dark hair that had come loose at some point around his finger as he continued, “I really enjoyed the opportunity to get some things between us straightened out.. I’m sure that you agree that it’s better...” he kissed her forehead and temple and then went back to her other ear and finished, “... to know where things stand...” before he took her earlobe in his teeth again and tugged lightly, the points of his fangs pressing lightly and causing her knees to feel suddenly weak. 

Kaoru opened her mouth to say something; she wasn’t sure what, but she felt certain it had something to do with things definitely _not_ being straightened out between them, and that where he seemed to think things stood was definitely not where they were actually standing. 

Before she could actually say anything, Kenshin’s lips were on hers, moving almost lazily as he explored her mouth, sending slow warmth spreading through her veins like melted honey, sweet and addictive. Kaoru made a pleading moan in the back of her throat and pressed herself up against him, feeling his heartbeat echoing through her chest. The feel of her hands running up his chest, across his shoulders, through his hair, her nails scratching slightly as she pulled his head down to deepen their contact, caused Kenshin to make a low noise in turn, and suddenly their kiss was sending electricity down her spine. 

His hands moved downwards to cup her bottom, and Kaoru gasped against his mouth as he hoisted her up so that her legs were wrapped around his waist. Then he leaned forward against her in a way that made her legs instinctively tighten as she whimpered. The heat that was shooting through her, pooling where she could feel him pressed against her, made her dizzy and breathless, and she gasped for air when Kenshin left her lips to begin nibbling on her throat.

“Oh, yes...” Kenshin breathed as he found a particular spot that made Kaoru arch her back instinctively and then cry out as the motion caused her to move (even more tightly ) against him. Keeping one arm around her to hold her in place, he ran his other hand up her leg, underneath where the skirt had ridden up, and didn’t stop until he could cup his hand and forearm around her again, his fingers brushing against the lace waistband of her underwear. She shuddered and wrapped herself around him even more tightly as he moved his other arm to that his hand could reach up underneath the hem, where her shirt had come untucked. 

All Kaoru could feel were the sensations of Kenshin’s mouth and teeth against her collarbone, the scent of ginger and the outdoors overwhelming her, the way that the calluses on his palm and fingers were slightly rough trailing up the smooth skin of her back. She faintly registered the fact that her bra had been unclasped, but it took the further explorations of his clever fingers to truly make her aware of it and what it meant. He captured her gasping moan with his own open mouth, and proceeded to wreak further havoc on her senses, so that all she could do was cling to him, completely lost. 

Kenshin was reveling in the feel of her skin under his hands, the way that she pressed up against him burning through his veins. He was drunk on her, and he knew it; knew that once again her response to him was making it impossible for him to remember the reasons he’d given himself for taking things one step at a time. Several steps seemed to be happening at once, in fact, and the small voice of reason in the recesses of his brain that pointed out that he had more important things, practical things, to worry about, especially after their encounter with Soujiro, was being drowned out by the rush of his blood, the feel of her heartbeat racing against him, and the half-coherent sounds she was making against his mouth in response to the caressing motion of his hands. 

He felt a faint prickling awareness a second before he heard the noise. Even though he knew what it was, even though he knew it was useless, he did his best to ignore it and hope that it would go away. And for a brief second of silence, he thought that, impossibly, it had. 

Then both of them, in spite of their being very much otherwise occupied, jumped at the sound of every phone in the building rang simultaneously three times, echoed by the loud, insistent noise from Kenshin’s pocket of the cell phone which Kaoru was _sure_ had not been there a moment before. 

There was a long moment when the only sounds were Kenshin’s unsteady breathing against Kaoru’s neck as he pulled back and rested against her and the continued ringing of the cellphone. Kaoru found herself unable to focus on anything else but the sensation of his breath warm against her and the sound of the phone, barely registering the low stream of curses Kenshin uttered as he managed to pull his arm down to get the phone and answer it with a snarled, “What?” 

Kaoru could catch the tone of the man—it was definitely a man; she could tell that much—on the other end of the phone, but not the words. She was focusing on trying to understand the words as a way of reconnecting her brain with reality. Well, some parts of reality. There were other parts that, while she was well aware of them, she really didn’t want to think about them. 

Kenshin’s tone continued to be tight, his words clipped, as he said, “Yes.. yes, he did. Advance warning would have been... What?” The last word was said in a slightly strangled voice, and Kaoru leaned back slightly to see a definite blush spread upwards from Kenshin’s neck to his face. A second later, Kaoru barely managed not to squeak (whoever the stranger on the other side of the phone was, she was quite positive that she did _not_ want to squeak in front of him) as Kenshin moved his other arm so that he was putting her back down on the ground, carefully. She managed to get her legs unwrapped from around his waist just in time, and concentrated on landing safely on the floor, relocating the shoe that apparently had come off at some point, rather than letting herself think about the way he had managed to put her down so easily, the way that his muscles had felt as they shifted. 

She tried to calm her breathing as Kenshin kept talking, “Do you have any idea how he found... I _was_ discrete! 

It was taking real effort for him not to crush the phone in his hand. The fact that he knew that the situation he found himself in was his own fault, born of his inability to simply let Kaoru flee into her apartment, his need to feel her melt against him when he kissed her, and the uncontrollable fire that she sent through him every time they touched, did not make him feel at all calmer. Instead, he kept being torn between frustration at the interruption and thinking about the various surprises that could have been far worse than an inconvenient phone call.

When his Master made a particularly blistering comment about Kenshin's idea of "discretion" and his observational skills, Kenshin sighed and quietly said, "You're right, I should have… what? Yes, of _course_ it's really me! Oh, never mind; I assume that there's a reason why you're calling? Other than merely to annoy me?"

Kaoru stood, quietly listening, watching Kenshin's expression for a hint of what the conversation was about. He hadn't made a move to step further away from her, but he was clearly tensed and focused on what was being said. It was, she noted, a complete contrast to the amorous mood he had just been in… which was, of course, completely different from the cheerful demeanor he'd tried to adopt.

' _And we're back to uncommunicative and focused, the way that he was in the car…'_ she thought, trying to fit all the pieces together in order to understand both Kenshin and what was going on.

Then he suddenly stiffened, the hand that wasn't holding the phone clenching into a fist, as he said, " _What!_ Are you… damn. _Damn_." Something about his posture seemed like he was barely managing not to punch the door, and his knuckles were white from the pressure. In a carefully controlled voice, Kenshin said, "I'll assume that you already have people looking into how this could have been possible in the first place. And that what you want from me is to go to the scene and see what I can find. Is there anything else; any leads or other information? Damn. I'll be there as fast as I can; tell the others not to wait."

With that, Kenshin hung up. He didn't really care that it might seem petty not to have waited for confirmation from the man on the other end of the line. Time was short, and there were things he needed to say to Kaoru before he left.

"It would sound silly to _ask_ you if something's wrong," she said softly. "because it obviously is. Just tell me if there's anything I need to worry about in particular, or watch out for, or, um, prepare for."

Sighing, Kenshin traced one finger along her cheek and remarked, "Ah, kitten, this wasn't at all how I planned to end the evening. Although," he continued, giving her a mischievously wicked grin, "I suppose the interruption is for the best. It would hardly be polite to drag you off to bed and repeatedly ravish you senseless before you've had a chance to think about our conversation."

In spite of her blush, Kaoru managed to glare at him. "Stop trying to distract me with sex! I mean, by talking about it. Or doing it. I mean, darn it, Kenshin, be serious!"

"I am serious," he said, unperturbed by her expression.

"I _meant_ be serious about what's going on, and where you're going, and… and… if whatever just happened wasn't connected to that boy with the smile and that Shishio he was talking about, I'll… I'll let Misao and Megumi pick out all of my clothes for work and not-work _and_ dragging me out to places with loud music and flashing lights and giant neon-colored drinks for the next year!"

The last part of Kaoru's declaration was punctuated by her poking Kenshin in the chest several times.

Acquiescing, he finally answered, "Yes, it had something to do with Shishio. I'm not sure if it had something to do with Soujiro, but if I had to guess, his delivering a message to me was at least partially intended to keep me focused on him rather than anything else. If I was keeping track of where he was, to make sure he wasn't following us, then they would have a better chance of their activities going unnoticed elsewhere. On the other hand, they might not have cared about that, and sending Soujiro to deliver a warning might just have been Shishio blatantly flaunting his ability to do things like that."

Kaoru still had many, many questions that hadn't been answered, but she decided not to press Kenshin about them. He clearly had places to go and things to do… possibly demons to kill.

"Well, um, good night, Kenshin," she finally said, feeling more than a little awkward. She really didn't know what else to say to him; wishing him good luck or giving him a thumbs up sign seemed inane.

"Thank you, kitten. I look forward to future occasions that don't get so rudely interrupted." He leaned in and kissed her lightly on the mouth before she could react, but didn't seek to turn it into an extended embrace.

As he turned to go, leaving Kaoru still standing in the doorframe, Kenshin said, "By the way, remember your hair ribbon? The indigo one?"

Puzzled, Kaoru replied, "Umm… the one that you sent back?" She tried to remember exactly what drawer she'd stuffed it into after she'd pulled it off the bouquet of roses. She was pretty sure that she hadn't tried to feed it down the garbage disposal.

"Yes, that one. You don't have to start wearing it again, but it wouldn't hurt to, say, put it into your bag."

"Put it… Kenshin Himura, is this another sneaky demonic magic thing? Using _my_ hair ribbon?"

What she could see of his expression was possibly the slightest bit abashed, but it was hard to say exactly. "It's not really 'sneaky,' " he answered, "It's just a basic charm to keep track… to make sure that nothing suspicious or dangerous is lurking around."

"I would like to point out that you're the one who wasn't concerned about tonight's unsavory elements following us," she muttered. "Does this mean you've changed your mind about that?"

"No, not really. It's just…" The incident with Jineh hung, unspoken, between them. Finally Kenshin said, "I couldn't live with myself if something… if _anything_ happened that could have been prevented by taking simple precautions. Please, Kaoru."

"Fine," she said, rolling her eyes and wondering when her life had reached the point when she could so calmly accept that even her favorite indigo ribbon had gotten tangled up with magic and demons. "I'll just put _that_ question on your tab along with everything else."

"Thank you, kitten," Kenshin said, sounding relieved that she had agreed.

With that, he walked off down the hallway, his pace seeming calm in spite of its speed. Kaoru watched him go, her thoughts torn between contemplating the evening's revelations and a sudden realization that she was actually feeling fairly tired. She wasn't sure if her tiredness was physical, the result of running all over the museum with her brother and Yutaro after a full day of school, plus at least one instance of chasing Misao around her house with a couch pillow, or if it was mental, the result of her brain being overloaded with new information that had broken and re-assembled previous certainties.

Either way, as she turned to unlock her door and go home, Kaoru knew that she wasn't going to be up for more than making herself a cup of tea and then going to bed. In the morning, there would be time to think things through, and make lists, or whatever else she decided was necessary.

In the morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Chapter: Kenshin puts on his best detective-type hat, in spite of the fact that it matches neither his tuxedo nor the scenery. Aoshi argues that his trench coat is detectivey enough that he doesn't need any other wardrobe additions. Saitoh lights himself a cigarette and prepares to enjoy the show.
> 
> In this chapter I don't own: Hmm… I don't seem to have quoted too much. Guess Soujiro isn't one to break out into spontaneous poetic utterances or things like that. Although having him deliver his message in Shakespearean play style, with quotes and arcane references and so on, would almost have been worth it.


	31. Smoke and Shards

Shards of glass glittered on the floor underneath the broken skylight. Aoshi’s careful pacing didn’t disturb a single fragment, and the movement of his trenchcoat didn’t make a sound. 

The only noise in the room was a careful exhalation from Saitoh as he sent another plume of smoke drifting through a shaft of moonlight. 

“Were the guards injured?” he asked thoughtfully. 

“No,” Aoshi answered, “they don’t seem to have noticed that anything was wrong at the time, so they never entered the room.” 

“And now?” Saitoh inquired, raising one eyebrow. 

“Now they’re unconscious. And it’s unlikely they noticed anything about _that_ before it happened, either.” 

“Ah.” Having no further interest in the guards, Saitoh turned his attention to the amount of glass on the floor. He frowned at it, then looked back up towards the skylight speculatively. 

“Breaking the skylight...” he mused. “Well, I suppose that’s one way to get the police to concentrate on human perpetrators. Although why they waited until after the burglary and broke it from the inside... ” 

“I suppose that they wanted to make sure first that the guards were sufficiently incompetent not to notice a noise like that.” Aoshi replied. “It would be a fairly easy thing to do on their way out, once they knew that they could take the time.” 

“You’re assuming there was more than one of them?” Saitoh asked, absently, his attention focused on the broken case which had once held a sword. 

A very particular sword. 

Saitoh’s attention was caught by Aoshi holding out one hand. There, in stark contrast to the dark blue of his fingerless gloves, were several stands of long, blond hair. 

“Ah...” Saitoh said, “Yes, I agree; there’s no way that _he_ would be allowed on a mission like this by himself. Or, at any rate, no way that he would have the self control needed to leave the rest of the swords behind.” 

“Exactly,” Aoshi said, a hint of dry humor evident in his tone. “And it would hardly have been a quiet theft.” 

“So which of the others do you think was holding his leash?” 

“I’m not sure yet,” the other man replied. “Henya can be eliminated, of course...” 

Saitoh snorted derisively. “I doubt that Henya will be allowed to breathe without supervision after that stunt he pulled. And several of the others are too stupid to be capable of watching over _themselves_ adequately. That narrows down the options considerably. If it weren’t for the fact that playing babysitter would be so far beneath him, I would almost wonder if...” 

“Soujiro was waiting outside of the restaurant,” Kenshin’s voice cut across the darkness of the room like a blade. “He knew where we were, and when we were going to leave.” His tone and the expression on his face indicated that when he found out who had informed the enemy of the details, what remained of their life would be nasty, brutish, and short. 

Saitoh, whose own expression indicated that he was putting real effort into not thinking of his student teacher and Battousai anywhere _near_ each other, said, “It is not impossible for the Tenken to have traveled from the museum to the restaurant.” 

“But you don’t think that happened...” Kenshin inquired, cocking an eyebrow at the taller man. 

“I think that it is unlikely, yes. I find it difficult to imagine that Soujiro was selected as a babysitter. It would be a waste of his considerable skills. He was more likely assigned to...” 

“... track me.” Kenshin finished, his face dark and furious. 

“I doubt that Soujiro’s skill was necessary for _that_ ,” Saitoh replied, ignoring the other man’s expression. “considering that an idiot like Jineh was able to find you so easily.” 

“Might I remind you, Himura, that these weapons are part of a museum exhibit, and not for actual use?” Aoshi’s cool tones cut smoothly through the tension building in the room. The two other men continued to glare at each other, but it was clear that they had heard him. Walking around to the cases along the wall, Aoshi said, “Only one sword was stolen; one out of this entire exhibition. According to the catalog of the museum, it wasn’t even the most valuable; rare, to be sure, but there were other, better choices for thieves. Things more easily fenced in the mundane world” 

“They aren’t even trying for concealment,” Kenshin mused, his eyes flicking to the place where they sword had rested. “If they had wanted to throw us off, they would have ransacked the rest of the exhibition; possibly the entire museum.” He scowled. “This was a message to _us_ , not to the petty guards or the museum trustees.” 

Saitoh nodded curtly. “He wouldn’t make a move like this unless he was ready to come out into the open. To make a statement out of it.” Shaking his head, he said scornfully, “If they were going to make it so obvious that even the humans couldn’t miss it, I fail to see what purpose breaking the window served.” 

“Nobody ever said that Chou was particularly bright.” Kenshin commented, his tone dry. “As I recall, wasn’t he working for you for a time?” 

If Aoshi had made a noise, it would have been a resigned sigh. “Hannya,” he said, turning to face a shadowed corner, “do you have anything to report?” 

There was a faint stirring of air as the masked figure materialized, white mask shining in the surrounding darkness. “There were no disturbances in the rest of the building, Captain. None of the doors were damaged; I believe that the intruders entered through the loading dock. It would not have been difficult. The standards of security in this facility are rather reprehensible, all things considered.” 

The mask hid any chance of seeing an expression, but Hannya’s sepulchral tone was offended, as if the lack of security precautions were a direct affront. 

“Weren’t there extra cameras and sensors around the sword exhibition?” Saitoh asked, frowning. “I can’t believe that the other museums lending their pieces would have agreed to this exhibition without that. No matter how much influence Tsukayama has; they would not have allowed their treasures to be taken to this country without appropriate precautions.” 

“I have checked the security tapes. The cameras did not record any of the theft,” Hannya answered. “As for extra sensors.... they were installed prior to the arrival of the pieces for this exhibition, at the special insistence of Mr. Tsukayama. However, from what I found in the office, it appears that they were deactivated for the opening reception this evening, also at the request of Mr. Tsukayama, who scheduled the reception and made all the arrangements. To all appearances, they were never turned back on.” 

Aoshi, well accustomed to his second-in-command’s way of phrasing things, said, “So you think that they _were_ in fact turned on at the time and deactivated later as part of the theft? Or that one of the guards was bribed _not_ to activate them afterwards?” 

“I thought we had concluded that the guards were merely stupid...” Saitoh murmured, taking another drag on his cigarette as he turned to prowl restlessly next to the other cases, raising an eyebrow and snorting at one of the historical descriptions.

“I agree,” Aoshi said. “Hannya, how difficult would it have been to deactivate the newer system? Would technical skill have been required? Pass codes?” 

“This is beside the point,” Kenshin said, his tone sharp. “What does it matter how it was done? The mundane protections were deactivated so that the theft could be carried out. The Mugenjin is in the world again, and that is the reality we must face.” 

Aoshi raised an eyebrow, eloquently, but said nothing further about the security measures. 

“Is it possible that this Tsukayama was part of the plan?” Saitoh asked bluntly. 

“He’s human,” the ninja said. 

“And? That sword has been well-guarded in its own country for over a century; why would it be selected as part of an exhibition now, sent someplace where the protections placed around it wouldn’t exist?” 

“The exhibition could have been planned before the theft was,” Aoshi pointed out. “This could be a case of taking advantage of a pre-existing situation.” 

Kenshin shook his head. “No. There’s no way that it would have been left to chance like that. This was carefully choreographed, all of it.” 

“Should we investigate the human as well?” Aoshi asked, raising one eyebrow. 

“No,” Kenshin said, after a moment’s thought. “I’ve read about him in the newspapers. He has a mind full of business and bushido... there’s no room for demons, or the supernatural. It isn’t in his nature.” 

“And you feel that we can eliminate him as a potential conspirator based on... newspaper accounts?” Aoshi’s tone was carefully neutral. “What if he thought it was some more mundane scheme? Insurance, or some personal favor being called in?” 

“No,” Saitoh replied before Kenshin could answer. “His son is one of my less hopeless students; judging from the boy’s behavior and the extent to which he looks up to his father, the man is almost ridiculously honest in his dealings. His obsession with what he thinks of as samurai culture would preclude him from doing anything dishonest when it came to arranging an exhibition of swords in particular.” 

“Which leads us back to the temple,” Aoshi mused. 

“For the Abbot to give up that sword, even temporarily something must be wrong” Kenshin declared. “He knows what’s at stake. And he never got in touch with me to say that anything had changed, that the sword had left the premises.” 

“If it had been stolen,” the tall ninja reminded him, “then the alarms would have been unmissable. Even from across the ocean.” 

“Which means that it was given, and freely...” Saitoh mused. His scowl clearly showed how little he liked puzzles. Pacing back towards the shattered case, he inspected it as if he could find the answer to their questions inside of it, raising his cigarette to his mouth again. Watching him, Kenshin thought that if the other demon started blowing smoke rings, he was going to throw him through the claymore display. 

“The logical conclusion,” Saitoh finally said, “is that the Abbot is...” 

“No!” Kenshin interrupted, his voice sharp. “He would not have done that. The Abbot is a good and honest man who understands the weight of his responsibilities.” 

After a long moment where the two of them stared at each other, Saitoh finally looked away, shrugging. “Well, I suppose you would know best, Battousai. Considering your personal experience with the temple.” 

Kenshin’s hand twitched almost imperceptibly towards his sword hilt, but his voice was calm as he said, “Indeed.” 

Watching them, Aoshi tried very hard not to think about the fact that he’d had to leave Misao behind in his apartment, or the fact that he probably would not be returning much before the dawn. 

“Hannya. Are there any other ghosts present who might be able to provide us with information?” 

“No, Captain. There are some connected to various artifacts—the usual curses and deathwishes and so on—but none who were aware of this particular intrusion.” 

Saitoh’s expression showed his surprise. “Including in the sword exhibition itself? All of these blades, all of this history; surely there must have been something... I could have sworn...” His voice trailed off as he looked around the room with narrowed eyes. 

The stillness of the room was broken by loud, cheerful, music. 

Instantly, four blades flashed out, the men’s stances becoming tensely alert. After several measured seconds in which nobody moved, Aoshi blinked, re-sheathed one of his kodachi, and reached into his trenchcoat pocket. It was impossible to tell in the dim light, but Kenshin could have sworn the lanky ninja was.... blushing? 

Aoshi pulled a small, silver object from his trenchcoat and opened it with a single smooth motion, causing the noise to come to a sudden jarring stop mid-note. Turning slightly away from the other two, he spoke in a low tone. 

“Misao, I thought I... yes, I’m still at work... no, it won’t take too much longer. What? Um... well... yes. Yes, I think so. That would be... um... Yes, I’ll see you soon.” 

Putting the cellphone back into his coat pocket, Aoshi pivoted and faced his companions. Both had re-sheathed their blades. Saitoh was standing with his arms crossed as he lifted his cigarette and inhaled, the gesture somehow conveying more than mere words ever could have. Kenshin raised one eyebrow as Aoshi walked past him back towards the case. 

“The Macarena?” he asked. 

“... reprogrammed my phone,” Aoshi muttered through his teeth, keeping his eyes on the swords along the wall. 

After several moments of silence, he spoke again. To his credit, he managed to keep any hint of what had just happened out of his voice, settling instead for a tone of brusquely getting back to business. Unfortunately, he couldn’t quite conceal his awareness that the incident would not only be remembered until the end of time, but would be lying in wait, ready to be brought up again, quite possibly under circumstances which would be even more embarrassing than the original event. 

“If there are no witnesses, dead or otherwise, then we need to concentrate on the scene.” 

“What do you propose, Shinomori? Dusting for Chi?” When his sarcasm met with identical glares of ice and amber, Saitoh held up a hand in what was, for him, a mollifying gesture. “We know Chou was here. We know the Tenken probably wasn’t present, because he was off chasing Battousai.” 

“Are you suggesting,” Kenshin asked tightly, “that Soujiro followed me to the restaurant and I failed to notice him?” 

“Of course not,” Saitoh replied “But it must be obvious, even to you, that Soujiro knew where you were in advance. It’s not like he was simply out for his evening constitutional and _happened_ to walk by the restaurant. And if he wasn’t tracking you in some way, then what....” He frowned, sharp eyes narrowing at some thought. 

“What?” Kenshin asked. 

It took perhaps two heartbeats for Aoshi’s expression to assume the same sharp, thoughtful cast. “It is possible that you weren’t the one he was following to the restaurant, Himura.” 

Frowning, Kenshin said, “What are you... No. No. He can’t have been tracking Kaoru; he didn’t even know who she was.” 

“He might not have seen her before, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t know _about_ her.” Tapping his lips thoughtfully, Aoshi continued, “Jineh’s death was... hardly subtle, Battousai.” 

“What the hell makes you think I was trying to be subtle?” Kenshin growled, fangs showing. 

“I understand that,” Aoshi said calmly, “but look at what we’ve learned: this theft represents a careful piece of a larger plan, one which has obviously been years—decades—in the making. And part of that plan would obviously involve investigating you—investigating all of us—for anything that could be used, with surprising thoroughness.” 

“I really don’t like surprises,” Kenshin said, his tone low and dangerous. 

“You’re surprised?” Saitoh asked, his eyebrows rising up almost to his hairline. “You are actually _surprised_ by... how naive can...“ Shaking his head, he said, “It could have been predicted how he would react to being sent to Hell! _This_ is the reason why I argued... Why do you think the Mugenjin was placed at that shrine?” 

“Enough, Saitoh. There were other forces the sword was being protected from; you know that. As for the other issue you raise... it was difficult enough to predict how things would conclude at the time, let alone looking ahead to cover all future possibilities. Our task now is to deal with present circumstances, not engage in useless speculation about the past.” 

Saitoh paused, then nodded, and both of the others knew it was the closest to an apology they would ever receive. 

“Aoshi, Hannya: how quickly can you create a replacement for the sword? Something that can hold up to human inspection, at least until the end of the exhibition. A police investigation would only get in our way; I want the field clear.” Kenshin’s tone was brisk and businesslike. 

“It can be in place by dawn,” Aoshi answered. “Hannya, go and fetch the necessary materials. I’ll remove any traces of the theft here.” 

With a nod and a bow, the masked figure stepped back into the shadows and vanished from sight. 

“That takes care of things here, but it leaves us with an important question unanswered,” Saitoh remarked. “We still don’t know why the sword was in this country.” 

“I agree,” Kenshin said. “There is something not right here. It must be investigated.” 

“And you are certain that the answers can be found at the temple?” 

“I believe that we can find some of the answers there, yes.” 

“I agree. How soon will you be leaving?” 

Kenshin opened his mouth to say something, then blinked. “How soon will I be _what?_ ” 

Saitoh gave a grin full of sharp-toothed smugness. “Obviously, Battousai, since you are the one who has knowledge of the location, not to mention the one who so adamantly defends the Abbot, _you_ must be the one to visit the temple and perform the investigation.” 

A muscle in Kenshin’s jaw clenched. “You’re asking me... to return to Kyoto.” His tone was perfectly, utterly neutral. 

After a moment, Aoshi said, “Saitoh makes a good point. Neither of us have your familiarity with the temple complex or its people; we might miss something important.” 

“You tell me that Kaoru is in danger, that she has been being watched, and then you expect that I will drop everything and leave town?” 

“She is watched at work and warded at home,” Aoshi pointed out brusquely. “You arranged for the protections yourself.” ‘ _Don’t you trust us to do our jobs?’_ hung, unspoken, in the air. “What you do in Kyoto will serve to guarantee her safety far more than hovering here and starting at every shadow.” 

“You know perfectly well it isn’t about the girl,” Saitoh added. “Her death while you were away would hardly count as a sufficiently dramatic gesture. It would be... wasteful to kill her unless you were there to watch.” 

Saitoh’s cool assessment rankled, but Kenshin had to admit that there was truth in what he said. Kaoru was likely to be in more danger from his presence than his absence; he had known that even before the incident with Jineh had driven the point home. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Aoshi and Saitoh were both extremely skilled. They would look after Kaoru, not only for his sake, or even for her sake, but because both of them had their own loved ones to protect. They would act as he would have acted if either of them had been sent on a mission out of town. 

“Alright,” he finally said. “I will go to... to the temple. And I will learn what I can, and return to report as soon as I am able. In the meantime, try to track the path of the Mugenjin. And keep an eye out for any other unusual occurrences. Whatever might have been planned is clearly being put in motion.” 

With that, Kenshin turned and walked into the shadows, not looking back. The last that they could see of him was a flicker of flame-bright hair against the darkness.

“Indeed.” Aoshi murmured. “Things are starting to move. We must be cautious.” 

“I am always cautious,” Saitoh replied acerbically, lighting up another cigarette. 

And the two men walked off on their own paths through the shadows, leaving nothing behind them but a single curl of smoke rising up through a shaft of moonlight.

* * *

Somewhere across town, in a small apartment decorated in a style best described as “Contemporary American Bachelor,” Sano tried to decide if putting the dishes in the cabinet under the sink counted as cleaning out the sink. It wasn’t that he wouldn’t do the dishes later, he reasoned; it was just that he had more important things on his mind tonight. 

He had stashed the dishes and was trying to decide if he had time to take a few of the scarier take-out containers and toss them into the trash when he heard the sound of the door being unlocked. 

Walking out into the living room, he looked at the woman standing there and grinned. “Hellloooooo, foxy lady! What’s a nice girl like you doing on this side of the tracks?” 

Megumi gave him a flat stare. “Trying to refrain from hitting you for using such stupid pick-up lines.” 

Coming over to hug her, Sano rubbed her back comfortingly. “Long day at the hospital?” 

“Mmmm...” she agreed. “Well... I had a nice dinner with Misao, but otherwise...” 

Sano frowned. “Oh. I thought you had a late shift.” 

“Yes, dear, these are my _hospital_ spike heels. And the top is to conform to the new studies that say that patients find sparkly doctors twenty-percent more trustworthy.” 

“Ah. Right. Sorry. Umm... nice shoes?” 

“Nice try, Rooster.” 

“Sorry. Can I make up for it with chocolate ice cream?” Sano was fairly certain there was still some ice cream in the freezer. Of course, he wasn’t entirely sure when it was from, but he figured that he could always chip off the ice crystals and douse it in Kahlua. That usually worked. 

“You know how I feel about things from your freezer, Sano. Besides, I had dessert with Misao. Some tea would be nice, though.” 

“Um... I’m not sure if I have any...” 

She sighed. “Left of the stove, middle shelf. I brought it over two weeks ago. And no, before you ask, I don’t want whatever in your fridge is currently claiming to be milk.” 

Putting the kettle on, Sano asked, “Kaoru didn’t go with you guys? I thought you said the three of you had plans.” 

“This was the night she had dinner with Kenshin. Remember Kenshin? Your friend, with the red hair? The one who’s interested in Kaoru?” 

Sano blinked. “Ah. Um. That was tonight? Kaoru and Kenshin? Um. I thought it was... errr... later than now.”

“No, it was tonight.” Turning, Megumi got a mug out of the cupboard and then went to wash it. “Sano, I realize that you’re caught up in the Halloween Party planning, but try to keep the cobwebs out of your brain. After all, you agreed that the two of them would make a good couple.” 

“Ah. Yes... yes, I did that. Umm... Megumi? Kenshin’s.... well, that is, the thing about Kenshin....” 

“You should have heard him when Misao called,” she said, grinning slightly. “Once he got over the shock, he thought it was a great plan. I don’t understand what Racoon-girl’s problem is... Kenshin’s a great guy, and he’s clearly really interested in her.” 

“Yeah... yeah... Kenshin’s definitely a great guy,” Sano said, weakly. Fortunately, Megumi was too busy trying to decide if what she had found was sugar to notice his tone. 

Changing the subject, Sano remarked, “So, Katsu and I... well, Tae and Katsu and... well, mostly Tae... anyway, we have the party menu worked out. She wanted you to call her to double-check things before she orders stuff. I think she’s getting some things from France, so it needs to be taken care of ASAP.” 

“Of course she’s getting things from France; that’s the theme of the party. What _have_ you been putting in those decorations?” 

Sano made a noncommittal noise and followed his girlfriend back into the living room. Sitting down next to her on the couch, he waited until she had set the tea back down and then started rubbing her shoulders. 

“Damn, beautiful; what did you have for dinner? You’re all tense.” 

Sighing heavily, she leaned forward so that he could work across her shoulderblades. “Dinner was great. Except, of course, for the fact that those _idiots_ at the hospital called me _again_ and I had to go back over there.” 

“Difficult case?” Sano guessed. 

“No, it’s that guy from the accident.” 

“They _still_ haven’t straightened that out? Why are they making such a big deal about this? I mean, is his family pissed off, or what?” 

“No, no family. I mean, he supposedly has a brother, who nobody can find either... I think it’s just that they got into so much trouble last year that they want to place the blame wherever they can, as long as it’s not them.” 

“You mean that thing with Mrs. McCleary? Did she ever turn up?” 

“Yes, Sano, but that’s not the point. The hospital almost got sued, and those formaldehyde-sniffing morons got their asses handed to them on a platter. Now the same thing happens, in spite of all the precautions and new rules and paperwork, and even though I signed everything I was supposed to and followed all the proper procedures, they’re trying to claim it must be _my_ fault.” 

Brushing a kiss against her cheekbone, Sano settled her against him. “It will be alright, Meg. Everybody at the hospital knows how good you are. They know you wouldn’t do anything stupid.” 

She relaxed, but sighed as she said, “I know that, but in the meantime, I have to keep dealing with annoying phone calls at all hours of the night.” 

“Well, the next time they call you, just give the phone to me. I’ll talk to them.” 

At that, unexpectedly, she laughed. “Oh, no, Rooster-boy. I am NOT letting you talk to anybody at my job again. I’m trying to avoid trouble, not cause it.” 

“Ah, you know you love me,” Sano asked, grinning lopsidedly.

Megumi scowled, but it was half-hearted. Whatever she mumbled under her breath made him laugh out loud as he pulled her in to kiss her and whisper something that had her blushing in turn even as she wrapped her arms around him and pulled him close.

* * *

Not going back into the building where he knew Kaoru lay sleeping was the most difficult thing Kenshin had done all week. He could picture her, curled up around one of her pillows, snuggled under a blanket so that only her long black hair was visible. 

The way that she felt wrapped around him burned in his memory, the surprise he had felt that first night when she had curled up and sought comfort in his arms. He could have brought her back to her own apartment, or left her in his bed while he took the couch, but he had found himself unable to let her go after bringing her back from that factory, from everything that had happened there. 

His resolution held up until he got a good look at what she had done to her wrists. By the time he had fetched his First Aid kit, he knew he wasn’t going to be letting her go that night. In fact, he hadn’t really wanted to let her go the following morning, either. The fact that Jineh had grabbed her, had _hurt_ her...

Thinking about Jineh brought his mind back to Soujiro, to the idea that Kaoru could have been the target of surveillance. Much as he hated to admit it, it did make sense. In fact, it might answer some of his questions about Jineh’s ability to find him. Just because Jineh had been a bloodthirsty psychopath who took pleasure in the hunt as well as the kill didn’t mean that there hadn’t been times when he had been willing to follow orders and take payment. Especially if it had meant that he would have a chance to fight an opponent he found interesting. 

_‘Jineh was surprisingly competent when it came to finding me...’_ Kenshin thought to himself as he paced the sidewalk. _‘I didn’t think to question it at the time, but... now that Soujiro has appeared... what if Jineh was more of a test case? Somebody independent who was known to be my enemy, who I was known to be hunting... there would be no direct link, nothing to even show where Jineh had gotten his information from. And if he had killed me, it would have been a nice bonus.’_

Once again, he repeated to himself that Kaoru would be well watched over in his absence. That the Wolf had been right when he pointed out that Kaoru was more of a target with him in the city than out of it.

It didn’t help. No matter how much sense it made, thinking the words “Kaoru” and “danger” in the same sentence still made Kenshin want to growl and wrap himself around her, sword drawn, and never let go.

And now he was being asked to go back to Kyoto... Kenshin sighed and ran his hand across his forehead, pinching the bridge of his nose.

Thinking this way was not helping. Thinking this way made him want to stride through shadows into Kaoru’s room and just hold her until she woke up. The only things keeping him from it were the knowledge that it was imperative for him to reach the temple as soon as possible... and the fact that he would have to tell Kaoru where he was going and why. 

And that would lead to questions Kenshin couldn’t take the time to answer right now. 

Not to mention questions he didn’t think he was ready to answer. 

Casting one last look up at the building where Kaoru slept, Kenshin turned resolutely and walked into the shadows, towards Kyoto and the answers he hoped to find there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Chapter: Katsu finally gets a chance to try out those French Literature-themed Halloween cocktails he’s been practicing.... even the demons are Fleeing in Terror.
> 
> In this chapter I don’t own: Kahlua. None! Hmm... perhaps that’s the reason this took so long to write?


	32. Le Grand Bal

‘I really don’t see what’s so French about these cobwebs,” Kaoru said thoughtfully as she finished stretching the last package of them across a corner of the room. “I mean, are you going to put little berets on the spiders or something?”

“ _Literature,_ Kaoru my love, just think of them as something from a book. There are tons of cobwebby spaces in nineteenth-century French literature! Basements, prisons, mysterious haunted castles...”

“OK, ok, fine, the cobwebs are tres magnifique. What’s next on the list?”

As Katsu was consulting his clipboard, Sano came up from the basement with another box of supplies for the bar. The main storage area was in the cellar, but for larger events, they always made sure to bring up as much as the smaller storage room on the main floor could hold, to save running up and down the stairs.

Kaoru looked at her watch. In another half-hour, Megumi and Misao would show up with their costumes, and the band would start warming up. By the time they’d all gotten changed, enough people would be in the bar to make it interesting. It was always a bit tricky to plan the timing when she spent the time between work and the party helping to decorate the bar, because it meant having to balance not being seen running around without her costume once the party had gotten started and loitering about dressed up when nothing was going on yet.

_‘Although... with my costume, I really could just go and change into the clothes and just save the bits where I put dirt on my face and mess up my hair... No, no; I promised the other two that we would change together and help each other out. Misao is sure to have some advice on how to convincingly dress up as a boy; she certainly pulled that stunt often enough back in college.’_

Sighing, she admitted the reason why she was looking for something to occupy herself with. The date, assuming it counted as a date, with Kenshin had certainly given her plenty to think about. Of course, at the end of the evening, she’d been too distracted by thoughts of Kenshin’s hands and his lips and... Kaoru realized that her face had gone bright red and sternly made herself recite Kamiya Kasshin moves until she wasn’t blushing, hoping that Katsu was too distracted by checking things off on his list to notice.

_‘Ok.... I think that we can take my distraction that evening as a given... skipping ahead... well... I guess I was expecting him to come over. Or call. Or leave a note. Or... well, something...’_

Looking back, Kaoru could admit to herself that her expectation that Kenshin would be lurking outside her door in the morning, or at the school, or at her door in the afternoon, had been something she’d focused on so that she wouldn’t have to think too much about the events of the night before. And by that she meant _all_ of the events of the night before, not just the way the evening had come to an end.

Of course, by the time dinner had rolled around and her day had been marked by a surprising lack of red-heads, Kaoru had started picking the evening apart, trying to figure out why. The next day, she had been distinctly distracted during lunch, and by the time she was heading home from work on the third day, she was two seconds away from stopping just to pick up one of those magazines with articles like, “How Do You Know If He Knows What You Think,” or “When First Dates Attack,” or possibly a helpful quiz to see how the evening scored on a scale of mild to wild, or Oatmeal to Habernero, or however the cool kids were scoring these things nowadays.

Fortunately, before she’d picked up the phone to call Megumi and Misao and go over the entire evening in the kind of detail that could only lead to blackmail, the postcard had arrived. Granted, the postmark had been blurry, and, unless either Kenshin or the Postal Service had mastered the trick of sending mail back in time, the date couldn’t have been right, but the message was perfectly legible. 

She only hoped that the mailman hadn’t read it. 

Once Kaoru had stopped sputtering and cleaned the coffee off of the counter, she took the postcard over to her desk for investigation. The picture on the front was a landscape, trees and a set of buildings in the distance. From what she could see, the architectural style looked foreign; something pointy and possibly Asian. A quick trip to the kitchen to dig some Ramen cups out of the cupboard confirmed that the printed characters on the postcard were Japanese.

“Hey, Kaoru? Can you set up the cemetery?” Katsu’s sudden appearance startled her out of her reverie. “The headstones are behind the speakers; characters are on the left, authors on the right. Mix them up if you want to." he continued, oblivious to the way Kaoru had jumped at his approach. 

Kaoru covered her confusion by looking at Katsu’s outfit. He had changed into a voluminous red robe and perched a hat on his head. She wasn’t sure what he had done with most of his hair, since it couldn’t possibly all be under the hat. However, she decided there were secrets she just didn’t want to know. Including the reasons why he was carrying a bowl full of things that looked way too eyeball-like for her to be entirely comfortable asking about. 

“In costume already?” she queried. “Don’t you still have work to do... you know, setting up and stuff?” 

“Sano and I figured one of us needed to be sure to be in character before things started, and I got picked,” he explained. Turning so that she could see the full splendor of his outfit, Katsu preened and said, “So... what do you think? Great, huh? Appropriately _Eminence rouge_ -like air of authority and all that?”

Adopting a serious demeanor, Kaoru said, “I have been warned about you and your notorious schemes to rule the country from the shadows, sir, and you will be thwarted! And furthermore, I suggest that you are none other than Ron Higgins, professional Cardinal Richelieu impersonator, and thus have no place at a party like this in the first place.”

Katsu stifled a snort, then grinned. “Curse you Inspector Dim. You are too clever for us naughty people! I must trust to your discretion, I suppose... or note that I went out and got that chocolate-covered candied ginger you raved about last year, _just_ because I know you like it. Oh, and be sure to get some of those headstones up on the balcony.”

“Alas, you know my weakness. Very well; I shall hold my tongue regarding your true identity, at least for now. But I thought you were going all Moulin Rouge up on the balcony. Sano and Misao spent the whole morning hanging fabric and putting those little twinkly lights up. Don’t think the cemetery vibe matches with the whole “Voulez vous couchez avec moi”-ness.” 

“Good point. OK, in that case, be sure not to put any headstones up in the balcony area, whatever you do. Just put any extras around the base of the bar.” 

“Where nobody will see them, because they’ll be pressing up against the bar and ordering drinks? Or do you expect people to be passing out next to the bar again?” 

“I just don’t want to waste them!” Katsu exclaimed, “Hey, I spent a long time thinking those things up! I mean, there’s —Flaubert, and half the cast of _Nana_ —well, the ones who end up dead--, and Balzac and—don’t snort, Sano, he was a famous author! —and Milady DeWinter and...” 

“That’s what you get for picking such a damned complicated theme!” Sano commented, shaking his head in mock sympathy. “Should have gone with my Hawaii idea. Skeletons and surfboards; what’s not to love?” 

“The fact that the last time you, um, “borrowed” all the model skeletons from the University Hospital, Megumi almost made sure you ended up as one?” Kaoru suggested as she started sorting through the cardboard headstones Katsu had spent the past couple of weeks cutting out and painting. Sano gulped audibly and said nothing further. 

Looking over what had been written, she commented, “Hmm... Katsu? I’m not sure Abbé Faria even _had_ a tombstone.” 

“Oh for... just assume Edmond had him properly buried afterwards, alright?” Shaking his head and muttering something about overthinking, Katsu headed out of the room. 

Once Katsu had gone back into the kitchen to finish dealing with the snacks and make sure that they had enough fruit chopped to garnish the drinks, Kaoru picked up the pile of headstones that seemed to have roughly alcohol-related themes and went to fasten them to the bar. As she started tearing pieces of double-sided tape, she looked sideways towards where Sano was double-checking the supply of clean glasses and decorative paper umbrellas and casually said, “You know, Sano, I could have sworn that you were going to have that conversation with Megumi, about demons and high schools and how those are surprisingly relevant topics in today’s modern society.” 

“Ah...” Sano said, his hands full of tiny plastic swords, “Well, Missy, you know... not really a good time, and... lots of getting ready for the party... um... complicated theme and all...” 

“Oh, _really_ ,” Kaoru responded, standing up to lean over the bar. “So... a conversation like, “Bye, sweetie, Misao and I are going to go set Kaoru up with that charming red-headed friend of yours...” provided no conversational openings? No chance to set the record straight, as it were?” 

For the second time within the span of two weeks, Sano actually blushed. He opened his mouth to stammer a response, but no words were forthcoming. As Kaoru continued to level a glare in his direction, he finally managed, “Ah... well... um, actually, I’ve been... there’s something else I had to... this week just wasn’t a good time to get into that discussion, ok? I’ll talk to her after I’ve... um... dealt with the other stuff I need to ask her about.” 

Fortunately for him, before Kaoru could start implementing some of her ideas about mummified Rooster as an appropriate Halloween decoration, cheerful voices from the entrance heralded the arrival of Megumi and Misao. After fixing Sano with a final dark look, Kaoru turned and smiled at her friends as they entered the bar. Megumi was carrying a large garment bag over one arm, and Misao had the two smaller packages that Kaoru recognized as holding the costumes they had picked out. 

Misao squealed as she looked around at the transformed bar and exclaimed, “Oh! I love it! The cobwebs are perfect— wow, Katsu, did you do entirely new tombstones?” 

“Well, they had to be French. The cowboy ones didn’t fit.” 

“I still say nobody’s gonna be reading them,” Sano declared casually as he strolled over to greet his girlfriend. 

Sensing that Katsu was about to feel compelled to defend the honor of his work, Kaoru cut in, “No dueling until we can pretend its part of the party atmosphere, you two! Now, I have to go get urchined up, so you two boys try not to do anything stupid that wreaks all the lovely decorations I’ve been putting up all afternoon, ok? Sano, _you_ get to finish up the tombstones.” 

Before they could do more than open their mouths to protest her accusations, she had waved, turned, and headed towards the back office that traditionally served as the decoration storage area and changing room. When she came in, Misao was removing the elements of her Esmeralda outfit and counting the scarves. 

“Misao... please don’t tell me that you added _more_ scarves?” 

“No! I mean, just a couple. I couldn’t decide which color would work best... here, what do you think, the turquoise or the canary-colored?” 

“I think that either way, you’re going to look appropriately like a nineteenth-century Parisian book character who performs with a tambourine and a pet goat. You can always keep some scarves in reserve in case you lose some.” 

“Were there actual buskers with pet goats in nineteenth-century Paris?” Megumi wondered from over in the corner where she was carefully opening up the garment bag to hang out her costume. 

“Probably,” Kaoru said. “At any rate, this isn’t a history party, it’s a literature party. Very little connection to actual reality.” “Which makes it perfect for Sano and Katsu,” Megumi sighed. “Speaking of those two reprobates, I am going to go make sure that they haven’t screwed anything up and that everything is all set in terms of the money. I’ll be back to change in a couple of minutes, ok?” 

“OK!” Kaoru said, looking curiously over to where the other girl’s costume was hanging. “Wow...” she murmured as she caught a good look at it for the first time. “Where on earth did Megumi find... I mean, that’s... that’s _amazing.._.” 

Her voice trailed off as she walked over for a closer look at what was quite possibly the most beautiful dress she had ever seen in her life. The fabric was crimson, a deep red that seemed to glow in the light without being obnoxiously shiny. The skirt was full, red with a black underskirt that was visible where it split in the front. The bodice appeared to have boning in it; at any rate, when Kaoru ran her hand up it, she could feel that it was fairly well re-enforced with _something_. There was an intricate pattern of leaves and flowers embroidered in black along the neckline and around to the back, with black lacing running down underneath it to just below the waistline. 

“Do you think this will be comfortable for her?” Kaoru asked absently, running her hands over the sleeves and noticing how they had been slashed to show black undersleeves that puffed out and contrasted to the crimson. 

“Isn’t it beautiful?” Misao demanded, coming up behind her. “We looked in four different shops; there were a couple of other possibilities, but Megumi said she knew exactly what she was looking for, and she wasn’t going to settle for less.”

“It’s absolutely gorgeous—I mean, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like it; it’s perfect. Did you see the embroidery on the outer sleeves, here, where they bell out? Everybody’s going to see her in this and their eyes are going to fall out of their sockets. Which I suppose works in the overall Halloween-ness of things... Anyway, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s costume, so I need to stop staring at it and go get appropriately grungy.” With a wistful exhalation and a last run of her hand down the smoothness of the fabric, Kaoru turned around to see Misao looking at her with an expression that had her eyes widening in alarm. 

“What?” Kaoru slowly asked, suspicion creeping up the back of her spine.

“Kaoru... I am _so_ happy that you love your costume!” Misao squealed, bouncing up and down and clapping her hands.

“Wh... I.. you--- tha—MISAO!” Kaoru wailed, “You _didn’t_! _Please_ tell me that you didn’t! You can’t possibly—Misao, we _picked_ a costume—and it was a good costume! It was exactly what I was looking for, and...”

“Instead of, and I quote, something that is “absolutely gorgeous” and “perfect,” oh girl who just used the word “covet”?”

“Misao... I... I can’t wear this; it’s... it’s something for Megumi, someone who can actually pull something like this off, somebody who can be all elegant and not trip over the hem or accidentally whap somebody with the sleeves when they turn around....”

“Don’t be silly, Kaoru; you just need to have some self-confidence about trying something new! It’ll be great; trust me!” 

“It will _not_ be great, Misao, it will be a disaster! You can’t possibly think that I can pull something like this off; it would mean having to be graceful, and elegant, and....

“ _And_ it would mean Megumi has to wear the Gavroche outfit,” Misao pointed out. “We have three costumes; there are three of us.” 

Kaoru’s eyes widened in shock. “Megumi would wear... wait... are you saying that if I wear this dress, Megumi will have to be a street urchin? For the whole evening? Where there are other people around?” 

The thought of her composed, ever-fashionable, always well-put-together cousin having to spend the whole party dressed as a scruffy young street rat was almost enough to make her laugh out loud... and more than enough to make her re-think her position on wearing the red dress. 

_‘It is a beautiful dress...that fabric, and the embroidery... I should be able to manage not to trip over the skirt or end up with my sleeves in the punchbowl, right? And how often am I ever going to have the chance to play at being a princess? Not to mention that having pictures of Megumi dressed as Gavroche would be unbeatable blackmail material... ’_

Still slightly skeptical, Kaoru raised an eyebrow and asked, “You’ll do my hair? And make-up? Nothing flashy, just... something that goes with the outfit?”

Sensing that Koru had already made up her mind, Misao nodded eagerly and said, “Of course! Don’t worry; no temporary hair color or weird eye shadow. I’m under orders from Megumi; she said that if you get to wear the dress that _she_ picked out, I have to make sure you’re, and I quote, “worthy” of it. Then we get to make sure that Megumi gets appropriately grimy; I’m thinking Gavroche is too young to have a beard or stubble or anything, but her face should definitely be dirty.”

“And shadows under her eyes!” Kaoru declared authoritatively. “And her hands need to look... well, we can’t do anything about the manicure, but can we make her wear gloves or something?”

The younger girl giggled at her friend’s enthusiasm for turning her cousin into a grubby French street rat for an evening and nodded. “Sure! I even have an idea how we can put her hair up, but leave the ends hanging down, all uneven. She’s wearing that cap, so it won’t be noticeable.”

Tilting her head, Misao said, “Actually, hang on; Megumi should be back in a minute, and we’ll make sure that she gets in costume first. That way, you can help with the ceremonial begriming, so to speak, and you won’t have to worry about getting anything on your sleeves.... then we can get you all set and into that dress and laced up and made up and pepped up... you’ll look gorgeous!” 

Privately, Kaoru thought that it was the dress that would look gorgeous; she was just going to be along for the ride. However, she grinned and replied, “And then at midnight, I’ll turn back into a pumpkin so that I can help with the cleaning up and herding out of anybody who doesn’t want to leave. This is going to be fun!”

Turning Megumi into a fox in urchin’s clothing actually didn’t take too long, probably because Kaoru had picked a relatively simple costume for herself on purpose. Misao did something complicated involving hairpins and strategic folding to make Megumi’s normally straight, shiny hair into something that stuck out at all angles from under her cap and looked like it had been clipped with a pair of nail scissors. In fact, Misao jokingly suggested trimming the ends once she’d gotten everything pinned to her satisfaction, but Megumi failed to see the humor and made a series of threats that had Kaoru covering her mouth to stifle giggles and Misao turning slightly green.

Once that was taken care of, Kaoru set about trying to figure out how to get into the crimson dress. She wasn’t really surprised to discover that Misao had brought stockings and low-heeled black slippers with crimson embroidery that matched the dress, some earrings, and some sparkly pieces that Kaoru didn’t recognize but that Misao explained were for use in her hair. 

“OK,” Megumi explained as Kaoru started to get changed, “The bodice is boned—well, it’s actually pretty much a corset, so that’s all the support you’ll need up top. And there’s an underskirt already; see where the black shows through?”

“Personally,” Misao piped up as she lifted the dress down, “I don’t know how real ladies in the historical versions of these dresses didn’t constantly fall over from the weight of their own petticoats. Trust me, with the crowds that are going to be here tonight, you’re lucky not to have to deal with that.”

She helped Kaoru get the dress over her head, then both other girls spent what felt to Kaoru like an inordinate amount of time adjusting the bodice, including making sure that the lacing was tight enough so that everything, as Misao put it, “Fits the way it’s supposed to without making you need a fainting couch every five seconds, or wish you’d had some ribs removed. Not that Megumi couldn’t do that; it would just take more time than we have... ok, now hold your breath for a second... can you exhale?”

When Kaoru nodded, Misao finished the lacing, clapped her hands, then pushed her into a chair, and proceeded to brush her hair out thoroughly while Megumi went to get the nail polish. Kaoru used the time to adjust to the strange feeling of wearing a corset.

_‘Well, now I know what a tinned sardine feels like...’_ she thought, figuring out the best way to breath in her new dress. Instead of her normal style, the one she had learned through years of kendo, Kaoru found herself having to take breaths that were somehow up and down. _‘On the other hand, I’m not _ too_ constricted, or like I’m going to pass out... it’s snug, and I certainly don’t have to worry that it’s going to fall down and embarrass me, but I don’t feel like I’m wearing an iron lung... and I love the way this skirt drapes...I wonder what blend this fabric is...’_

“I’m going to do a basic French manicure... it seemed appropriate,” Megumi explained as she pulled a chair over so that she could sit in front of Kaoru and hold her hands. “Plus, it will be quicker, and you won’t wake up tomorrow and panic because your nails are still bright red.”

“ M’at onl’ happ’ed once!” Misao protested, her mouth full of hairpins.

Misao and Megumi chattered brightly, speculating on who would show up and what they would wear as they worked. Misao brushed and braided and twisted and pinned Kaoru’s hair with deft fingers, working in several of the ornaments from the selection she had brought. Meanwhile, Megumi was busily taking care of Kaoru’s nails. Kaoru was barely listening to her explanation that she wasn’t being given a _full_ manicure, more of a quick party version. Her mind had drifted back to what Kenshin had said in his postcard. 

_‘He said he had been called out of town on business, and that he’d be back as soon as he could, and that he ... gah! I’m blushing again. Not in front of the Weasel, NOT in front of the Weasel.... I wish he could have made it back for the party. He’s friends with Sano... he must know about it.... but if he’s had to leave town... on the other hand, he never seems to miss an opportunity to bother me, at any rate, and I can just imagine that the thought of a party like this would cause an outbreak of evil demonic chuckles... so it seems likely that he’ll show up if he’s anywhere in the vicinity. Not that I’m wearing this dress because of that.... I mean, this is a chance for me to dress up and wear something pretty for reasons having nothing to do with demons.’_

Then she realized that the thought wasn’t making her panic the way that it would a couple of weeks ago... before she had learned more about his job, as it were. 

_‘It’s not just a job; it’s an adventure, I guess. Or possibly a quest. I mean, making the world safe, one demon-infested high school at a time... Which means that I don’t have to worry about him committing random massacres... just carefully planned ones... is that better? I mean... he’s eliminating threats, things that would really go out and commit random massacres. So how do I feel about that piece of news, which I’ve avoided thinking about fairly successfully so far, all things considered? Guess there’s no time like the present, since nothing else is going on that I need to actively participate in.... well, I can start thinking about it, anyway. I mean, for so long, I was so certain, Kenshin was evil. It was the whole reason I killed him... which I still haven’t asked him how he felt about... probably should do that at some point...’_

Megumi and Misao were involved in a discussion about exactly what ornaments should go into Kaoru’s hair, and reached the point where they actually felt compelled to ask her opinion about it. 

“I can’t _see_ what you’ve done to my hair, Misao; hand me a mirror, and then I can offer an opinion about which would look better!” 

“Oh... actually,” Megumi suddenly said, “I think you’re right, Misao; I forgot, there’s a fan that goes with the dress, and those ornaments that you picked out match better. Can you finish with Kaoru’s hair and do her make-up? It sounds like people are starting to show up, and I promised Sano I’d help out front.”

“Sure! OK, Kaoru, just hold still for a second and let me put these in!” Once Misao had finished with her hair, she moved around to the front and applied make-up with a much lighter touch than usual. Kaoru was grateful; she was supposed to be aiming for elegant, and too much make-up would just make her look like a caricature. 

_‘These parties are always so much fun... dancing, friends, fun costumes, silly prizes, raising money for charity... and none of that pairing-off vibe that you get in a nightclub... I mean, even if Kenshin does show up... well, if he asked... I mean, I could... maybe... I could dance with him if he asked me, and maybe ask him some more questions... that would be ok, right? It might be nice to dance with him and actually know that I was doing it at the time... now that I know he’s not evil... well, not evil in a job-related sense.....’_

Truth be told, Kaoru had already admitted to herself that she was looking forward to this party as a distraction from several important conversations she knew she had to have with herself about Kenshin, concerning her feelings about him, and what appeared to be his for her. If demons had feelings. Which they apparently did, based on her recent experience, which was another thing she still wasn’t sure she really wanted to think about. 

_‘Of course, the tricky bit will be using this party as a distraction from thinking about him if he’s actually here.... on the other hand, he’ll just be another guy in a costume who I can dance with for a bit, maybe get a drink from the bar...something more normal than the usual chasing and waffles....’_

“OK, you are good to go, Milady!” Misao declared with enthusiasm as she finished blending Kaoru’s eye shadow for her. “Just slip your shoes on... oh, and Megumi said there was a fan... it should be in the bag. I’m going to go start circulating and keep an eye open for Aoshi. He wouldn’t tell me what he was dressing up as; said I’d have to find him. Isn’t that cool?” 

“Misao, the man is a foot and a half taller than you are and has eyes that could cut glass; it should _not_ be difficult to find him.” Kaoru observed as she put her shoes on and stood up. 

“I hope not!” the petite girl chirped, practically skipping out the door. “See you out there!” 

Kaoru shook her head at her friend’s enthusiasm and went to look for the fan. Sure enough, it was in a pocket of the garment bag. It was black sandalwood, with some tiny dark red stones set in a pattern along the base. Opening it, she practiced fluttering it experimentally before giggling. The idea of her getting to play a fine, aristocratic lady, with all the airs and graces and manners associated with the role, was incredibly funny. Grinning to herself as she headed out the door, she wondered what her father and brother would say if they could see her, running around in a ballgown, complete with fan and sparkly hair ornaments! 

The bar was already getting fairly crowded, and Kaoru decided that she should try to find Sano or Megumi and see if there was anything he needed help with. She couldn’t see either of them, but figured that heading towards the bar was a good bet. 

“Excuse me, can I get by?” Kaoru politely asked a group standing practically in front of the hallway. The man nearest to her turned with a smile, and said, “Su---...” before he stopped, jaw hanging open. 

Kaoru blinked at the unexpected response, but didn’t want to ask a total stranger what was wrong with her, so merely smiled, thanked him, and passed by before he could finish whatever it was he was saying. 

_‘I looked at the dress before I put it on... and Megumi and Misao would have taken care of it if they’d spilled something on it while they were doing my nails or my make-up... Are my hair ornaments crooked or something, because that guy wasn’t even looking at my shoes, so I don’t know what else he could have... been... staring... oh... my... God...’_

The mirror along one side of the bar was partially covered with fake cobwebs, and the lighting in the bar was even dimmer than usual, but Kaoru suddenly found herself faced with a reflection that was at first completely unrecognizable. 

The skirt of the dress fell in graceful folds, crimson seeming to glow in the light, and black absorbing it. The slimness of her waist was emphasized by the cut and angle of the corset; the delicate embroidery looked even more intricate in the shadows. 

None of that, looked at rationally, was really a problem. In fact, Kaoru could admit to herself that it was a good color for her to wear. 

The bodice, on the other hand... 

_‘Why didn’t I remember the illustrations of women wearing corsets from history class when Megumi mentioned them? Why, oh, why, oh why... I mean... that’s...that’s...’_

Kaoru could now readily understand why the brain of the man she’d tapped had shut down. Hers seemed to be in the middle of undergoing the same process, the only question that she could piece together being something along the lines of, “Where did _those_ come from?” 

The neckline was a graceful curve, accented by the embroidery. Kaoru had known that it was an off-the-shoulder dress, but she hadn’t realized how low the neckline dipped, showing off her collarbones and the hollow at the base of her neck. At the same time, the structure of the corset meant that she was now showing off cleavage that looked like it belonged in one of Misao’s racier novels. In fact, as Kaoru fought to control suddenly panicked breathing, several of the common phrases used in those books made much more sense now. 

_‘Oh, no... no, no, no wonder they wouldn’t let me see a mirror... and... Megumi picked this costume out on purpose, I know she did... and Misao with her...I am going to kill them... painfully... people are staring... people are staring, what I am I supposed to do now?’_

Fortunately, Kaoru remembered her fan before she hyperventilated or turned the color of her dress. By holding it in front of her in what she hoped was a ladylike fashion, and fluttering slowly, she at least felt like she wasn’t half an inch away from flashing the entire room. Not to mention that she felt much better having something in her hands that she could smack people with if necessary. Having taken care of her immediate problem, she turned with narrowed eyes to see if she could locate her friends and _calmly_ explain to them the many ways in which she was going to hurt them. 

Kaoru’s plan ran into difficulty due to the fact that her normal strategy of slipping through crowds unnoticed was a complete and utter failure. She could practically feel the stares, and more than once a complete stranger tried to offer her a drink, with an expression on his face that made her seriously consider using her fan to wipe it off. Unfortunately, Misao and Megumi seemed to be well aware of what her mood would be once she’d caught a glimpse of herself in the dress and were strategically avoiding wherever she happened to be heading. She thought she caught a glimpse of a brightly-scarved figure being yelled at by some old lady with shoes hanging around her neck, near the dance floor, but decided that there was no way she was heading anywhere near someplace full of people getting down to the beat. Kaoru had no experience with corsets, but as far as garments went, they didn’t exactly seem to have been born to boogie. 

Giving up, she made for the wall and tried to stay out of sight, positioning herself behind somebody dressed as a Three Musketeers Bar. Either the Fox or the Weasel was bound to show up at some point; until then, Kaoru had no problem waiting. 

For one thing, it gave her more time to calculate exactly how much damage one sandalwood fan and a seriously peeved Raccoon-girl could inflict. 

* * *

Kenshin slipped in through the front door of the club with a nod to the bouncer. He had considered using one of the back ways, but had decided that this was a better idea. After all, he didn’t want to have to answer any questions about his sudden appearance later on. Not that he was planning on staying for long; Halloween was always a particularly tricky time in his line of work. The myths and cultural practices which had grown up around the holiday meant that there were always idiots who decided that it was a perfect night to try summoning a demon, or casting spells to get demonic powers. Since some of them were bound to work, it always meant a long night of preventive measures followed by messy clean-up work. 

_‘At least I could wear my sword with this,’_ he thought to himself as he moved effortlessly through the crowd. It always made him feel better to have his weapon in easy reach, especially on a night when there was likely to be a need for it. He had also kept his costume simple, the dark blue velvet of his coat contrasting with the paler shirt and patterned waistcoat, and complementing the black trousers. Frankly, he hadn’t had the time to really research appropriate outfits. On the other hand, at least half of the crowd seemed to have only a vague idea of the theme, so he doubted anybody would call him on it. And, if they did... Kenshin smirked slightly and adjusted his sword again. 

This year in particular, they had all agreed that they needed to be prepared for anything. Saitoh had been helping keep an eye open in the schools, and to cover patrols on his side of town; Kenshin wasn’t sure how that had been negotiated, but he didn’t really care. The potential threat was greater than any past grudges. He considered himself lucky to have been able to use his recent business trip as leverage to get at least part of the night off if he could finish everything up in Kyoto and return in time. It had been close; in fact, he had barely had time to check back in, but he was fairly proud that he had managed it. 

Deciding he would have a better chance of spotting her if he stayed in one place, Kenshin settled back at the bar to see if he could catch a glimpse of Kaoru. He was determined to spend some time with her, continuing to get her used to having him in her life, even if it could only be for a couple of hours.

Besides which, he’d already arranged with Sano to have a couple of slower songs played once he’d managed to track down his kitten. 

He was making small talk with Katsu at the bar, scanning the crowds and drinking one of the special Halloween cocktails— after Katsu had explained that it was his Grand Guignol special, Kenshin had deliberately tuned out the list of ingredients, concentrating instead on discretely disposing of the garnish on the grounds that he didn’t want his drink looking back at him-- when he caught the sense of her across the room and turned to see where she was standing... 

Katsu barely managed to catch Kenshin’s glass before it shattered on the floor. Kenshin didn’t even notice. In fact, he almost forgot to swallow. When he did, it was more of a reflex action than anything else, and he was lucky that he didn’t choke. Although he probably wouldn’t have noticed that either, because all of his attention was locked on... 

Kaoru, standing there, her dark hair intricately braided and twisted and accented by subtle ornaments, her eyes huge and dark in her face, with a faint flush on her cheeks.... Kenshin drank in the sight of her slender neck, the line of her shoulders and the way the paleness of her skin contrasted with the crimson and black of the dress. 

The sight of her kindled something deep within him, sparking through his veins as he stared. Kaoru seemed to register the intensity of his look as she looked up, startled, and met his burning amber gaze. She went pale, and bit her lip at what she saw in his expression. Very slowly, very deliberately, Kenshin allowed his gaze to travel down along her body, all the way to her feet, before traveling back up, lingering appreciatively in places before he met her eyes again.

Never breaking eye contact, he smiled at her, a wicked curve of his lips that said more than any words could.

_‘Mine.’_

Her breathing quickened nervously, and Kenshin’s grin grew broader as he noticed the effect that had. The second she realized where exactly he was looking, Kaoru blushed and brought her fan up, opening it with a definite snapping motion. She glared at him from across the room, but he refused to even pretend to look contrite. Instead, he raised one eyebrow, daring her to comment as he kept his gaze locked with hers.

_‘Mine. And you know it, kitten.’_

He didn’t even bother to look at anyone else in the room as he moved towards her, never looking away. The force of his presence was enough to make the others in the room move out of his way automatically, not even turning to glance at him. Kaoru pressed herself against the wall, eyes darting nervously left and right, clearly looking for a way out, but always returning to look back at him, at the way he continued to devour her with his eyes. 

When he was about halfway across the room, he paused momentarily as Kaoru’s attention was distracted by a man to her right, who looked like he’d dug a bunch of vaguely military-looking bits and pieces out of the mothballs and tried to stuff himself into them, developing beer belly and all. He narrowed his eyes as the man bowed politely while raising Kaoru’s hand to his lips. Kaoru’s smile was brilliant, but didn’t reach her eyes as she said something in return. The other man kept talking, and Kaoru’s eyes flicked from him to Kenshin and then back before she nodded. Kenshin watched as he led Kaoru off towards the dance floor. 

Realizing that he was automatically baring his fangs, Kenshin pulled his expression into something more composed as he moved to the edges of the room so that he could follow less conspicuously. As he moved, he admired the back of Kaoru’s dress, the intricate lacing on the bodice and the way the cut showed off her shoulders and back. 

_‘I’ll have to remember to thank Misao and Megumi later,’_ Kenshin thought to himself. Even without Kaoru’s panicked expression, Kenshin would have known who had to be responsible for making her wear that dress. _‘And I really should remember to thank Kaoru as well, of course. Thoroughly....’_

The music was fairly loud, but the area that had been cleared out to allow space for dancing wasn’t as full as it could be. Kenshin maneuvered around a man dressed as what apparently was supposed to be a car and found a space by the wall where he could lounge and watch and plot. The interloper apparently didn’t care that Kaoru’s skirt might get stepped on, most probably by him, and Kenshin smirked. 

_‘Idiot.’_

The sight of said idiot moving into a classical dance position, hand around Kaoru’s waist, made Kenshin’s jaw tighten again. This was going to be much more difficult than changing places with that other moron at Killer Bluez. 

Speaking of that, he really had to remember to let Robert or Randolph or whatever his name had been out at some point... 

“Hey, Kenshin! Glad you could make it!” Sano said cheerfully as he came over, the ridiculous blue plume on his hat bobbing as he walked. “Whatcha lookin’ a--- woh... is that... wow. I knew that Megumi and Misao had gotten her that dress, but damn, Kaoru looks good. Why aren’t you out there with her?” 

“Don’t worry; I will be,” Kenshin answered absently, his eyes never leaving the pair on the dance floor as he accepted the replacement drink from his friend. The other man’s arm was firmly around Kaoru’s waist and he had pulled her forward so that his body was pressing against hers. 

“Um... Kenshin?” Sano whispered nervously, “I know it’s Halloween and all, but... um... maybe you should be a bit more... discrete about the fang thing?” 

Kenshin’s eyes glanced briefly towards his friend, and he worked to get his grimace under control. “Sorry, Sano... I just don’t like....” he trailed off and grinned as Kaoru clearly stepped on the man’s feet. “And neither does she.” 

“Just try to keep the bloodshed to a minimum; that’s all I ask...” Sano muttered. “We already allocated the money, and it ain’t going to emergency services.” 

“I’ll behave, Sano; I promise.” _‘At least while I’m in the club,’_ Kenshin mentally amended. 

“Wasn’t talking about you,” Sano said mournfully, looking over at Kaoru again. Shaking his head to dispel the thought, the taller man said, “Say, been meaning to ask you; how the _hell_ do you manage to not constantly hit people with your sword? I’ve been smacking shins all night, and that S-Class guy went after me for denting his fender...” 

Kenshin raised an eyebrow, “Well, Sano, it’s not really something that you can learn that quickly. Why do you have to wear a sword, anyway? I mean, you’re not carrying an actual musket...” 

“Hey! It’s part of the literature! All for one, and all running around ready to duel, you know? Tried to get Katsu to join in, but he said he preferred to work behind the scenes.” Suddenly thinking of something, Sano said ruefully, “Damn... should have asked you if you wanted to...” 

“No... no, I don’t think so. Not really into the large capes. Not to mention the big plumey hats.” Kenshin interrupted, forestalling his friend. 

‘Oh well... by the way, you supposed to be anything in particular, or did you just look through your wardrobe for stuff from nineteenth-century... err... never mind; forget I asked. Some things I just don’t want to know.” Changing subjects, Sano remarked, “Well, I was gonna ask when you wanted those slower songs, but I guess I’ll just wait for a subtle sign from you... I’ll be over with the DJ, ok?” 

Kenshin nodded. “Thanks, Sano; I appreciate it. Just give me a couple of minutes to... oh, _hell..._ ” 

Sano followed the red-head’s line of sight to a tall man, resplendently dressed, with a full, elegantly curled wig, and a coat covered with complicated embroidery patterns in gold. Sano wasn’t sure whether those were real seed pearls worked into the design or not, but he wouldn’t have bet against it. There was a sword at the man’s waist, and it looked like it belonged there. At any rate, in spite of his own bulk and the sword, he moved through the crowd on the dance floor as if they simply weren’t worth noticing. 

“Who is _that_?” Sano asked, blinking. 

“I believe,” Kenshin answered in a strained voice, “that it’s Louis the Fourteenth.” He took a long drink from his glass and then once again said, “Hell,” in a thoroughly annoyed voice. 

“Problems?” Sano hazarded.

“You have _no_ idea...” Kenshin sighed.

* * *

Kaoru kept her grin firmly in place in spite of the cheap cologne, leering expression, and incompetent dancing of her partner. If she was being generous, she probably would have to admit that the incompetence was the result of his brain routing all of his attempts at thought through the sight of her cleavage. Not to mention that all of his actual dance moves seemed designed to either give him a better view down her bodice or give him a chance to press up against her. He was lucky that the only thing she did to him was step on his foot, hard as she could. 

_‘Has this man never seen breasts before? What could possibly be that fascinating about... oh, never mind; I don’t want to even try to figure out his thought patterns. If you can call it “thought.” Just keep repeating to yourself that this is better than other options... and that once this dance is over, you can escape and find something that you can use as a cloak... cloaks are dashing and literary and can be used to hide weapons under...’_

The other thought that kept her from looking for a handy gravestone to beat him to death with and then bury under was the memory of the way Kenshin’s eyes had burned as he looked at her, the way his entire expression had been... _hungry_. She could still feel the way that gaze had sent sparks everywhere his eyes had traveled. 

Compared to that look, a few dances with morons was a much safer option. 

_‘In fact, I might just try to stay out here on the dance floor.... oh, Lord, is he... drooling... eww...’_

Kaoru was hit by a very strong urge to curl in upon herself, as much as the corset would allow, before or after kneeing her dance partner in the groin. Before she could put her plan into action, a deep masculine voice from behind her declared, “If you can’t dance with a lady properly, you shouldn’t even try it. Go find someone at your own level of incompetence to play with.” 

As Kaoru managed to turn to get a look at the speaker, her first impression was of gold embroidery, perfectly curled hair, and well-muscled height. Bill, or Billy, or Mac, or Buddy, or whatever his name was, opened his mouth to say something, then quailed at the expression on the taller man’s face. He stuttered something unintelligible, then took a step back. The sharp blow to the side of the neck he received from Kaoru’s fan as he moved his arms away from her was almost entirely not an accident, even though she kept her perfectly polite smile pasted on her face the entire time. 

Turning fully to see the man who had just cut in, she raised an eyebrow as she took in the full magnificence of his costume, from perfectly coiffed hair to perfectly polished, diamond-buckled boots. And the fact that his expression fit it perfectly. Tilting her head, Kaoru remarked, “You know, there was a man in an iron mask wandering around near the bar earlier; you might want to be careful.” 

He threw back his head and uttered a brief bark of laughter before he offered her his arm and moved into a dance position. Kaoru was pleased to note that her new partner knew how to hold her at enough of a distance so that they could converse. Of course, the height disparity still made things difficult, but the way that he was standing enabled her to look at him without having to strain her neck. 

He also turned out to be an excellent dancer, making it very easy for Kaoru to follow his lead. The smile that she gave him was genuine as she said, “That was a very gallant rescue, your Majesty; I appreciate it.” 

“Rescuing you from being ogled, or him from serious bodily harm?” he asked, raising one eyebrow.

“The second, resulting from the first,” Kaoru said with some amusement. “I’m impressed that you noticed the risk. _He_ certainly didn’t.” 

Her partner snorted. “I wouldn’t expect that one to notice much of anything unless it was blindingly obvious. In fact, he rather reminded me of someone else I know.” 

“Well, as long as _they_ don’t try to dance with me, things should be fine,” Kaoru cheerfully remarked, then raised an eyebrow as the other man clearly held back another barking laugh. He executed an impressively complicated turn, which she followed without batting an eyelash.

_‘Unexpected benefits of kendo training, number thirty-seven... ability to follow dance moves of partners if they are at all competent....’_

_‘This party just might turn out to be fun after all...’_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Chapter: Kaoru has the chance to re-evaluate that last thought, while Kenshin tries to decide if attempting to assassinate French royalty counts as “excessive bloodshed” according to Sano’s definition. 
> 
> Author’s Note (*hums “Coin-Operated Boy” to herself as she types*): Happy 2006, everybody! I hope that everybody had a happy New Year! And, yes... umm... Kenshin’s trip to Kyoto was indeed completed in record time. On the other hand, he had motivation to come back. Don’t worry; the subject will come up again. Thank you to everybody who suggested costume ideas; we will get to see more of them next chapter (while the last chapter was the Chapter That Would Not Die, the Halloween Party was the Chapter That Would Not Stop). I’m glad that so many people were amused by Misao’s choice of ringtones for Aoshi’s phone. Hee. Thank you to all the new readers, including YunCyn (thank you for a lovely review; don’t worry, I don’t hate Kenshin! Look, I gave him a shiny, fancy dress-wearing present this chapter and everything!), Shenyu, tesuka-chan, and Tiber360 ( at the end of Chapter 5; Kaoru’s question to Megumi is indeed referring back to her own earlier-stated intention to compile a list of horrible fates to inflict on Kenshin; no, it doesn’t come up again...). So many other people left such lovely reviews, which made me very, very happy! I am still trying to figure out how to work reviewer responses under the new system, but figured that it was more important to get this chapter out. Hee. It takes a couple of hours to do the responses, so I need to decide how I’m going to schedule it. 
> 
> In this chapter, I don’t own: Vast quantities of nineteenth-century literature, including: Emile Zola’s scandalous Nana, Alexandre Dumas’ The Count of Monte Christo,(with its heroine, the lovely Mercedes...yes, yes; I just couldn’t resist..., and the Abbe Faria, supposedly buried at sea), The Three Musketeers, or The Man in the Iron Mask, (with Louis XIV and his twin brother). Nor do I own The Hunchback of Notre Dame, with its assorted hunchbacks, dancers, or crazy old street ladies. I also don’t own Flaubert’s Madame Bovary, with Emma Bovary, or Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina (which is not French). Nor do I own the Monty Python sketch with Ron Higgins, Professional Cardinal Richelieu Impersonator. I also don’t own the Grand Guignol literary movement which focused on horror and shock effects (including the “gouged-out eye trick”). Information for these was taken from Wikipedia, which I also don’t own. In addition, I don’t own “All I Wanna Do Is Have Some Fun,” sung by Sheryl Crow. Oh, and for those of you wanting an idea of what Megumi and Misao inflicted on Kaoru, this is the dress her costume was based on (although with a less poufy skirt, and in a deeper red with black instead of gold...): http://18thcenturycorsets(dot)smugmug(dot)com/gallery/41697/1/1464014/Large
> 
> Additional author's note: Edited for A03 to remove offensive language related to the description of a 19th century literary character (same as the earlier chapter) (even though 2004 Misao and Kaoru probably wouldn't have thought to use Roma or Sinti when talking about Esmeralda, particularly if they were using language directly from the novel, I think that this is something that didn't age well and needed editing).


	33. Danse Macabre

"And then, from out of the back row, an entire frog came flying and landed right on Mr. Fujita's desk!" Kaoru concluded, grinning up at her dance partner as he gave another of his deep laughs.

She wasn't entirely certain how they had gotten onto the subject of her job, but she had to admit that it was a welcome relief to have something to focus on besides her dress, or the demon whose burning eyes she could still feel all along her spine. The man she was dancing with gave no sign that he even noticed either one, which also helped. His dry observations about the other partygoers made her laugh in turn, and she was extremely sorry when the music ended.

The next song was something very fast, very loud, and extremely bouncy. Kaoru, who had been seriously thinking about staying on the dance floor just to avoid... well, any non-dance-related entanglements... quickly dropped that plan in favor of getting away from the galloping hordes.

' _Not QUITE a hundred bad guys with swords, but definite poke-your-eye-out potential... you could occupy Paris with this many Musketeers!''_ she thought. Scanning the room, she saw several red cloaks, a red hat, and a spectacularly scarlet set of high-heeled boots, but no sign of red hair in the immediate vicinity. Kaoru let out a breath she hadn't been aware she had been holding and thought about which direction she wanted to go in.

As long as she was standing with a much larger man, she might as well take advantage of his ability to push through crowds. Turning to her dance partner, Kaoru smiled and said, "Thank you so much, your Highness... if I might trouble you to be dropped off over by the bar?"

For half a moment, there was no answer, his stare focused intently on something Kaoru couldn't see off in the darkness away from the dance floor. Then his attention returned to her as if it had never been elsewhere. "As my Lady requests," he replied, mouth quirking up in a smile.

Their progress was unimpeded, largely because anybody male who looked like they were going to approach was treated to a twin set of glares that could have set their costumes on fire. Halfway there, Kaoru caught sight of a familiar-looking plethora of scarves congregating around the petite form of her best friend, and her eyes narrowed.

' _Is it my imagination, or are there more scarves now than Misao had when the evening started?'_ she wondered. _'It figures that she would pick the mutant self-replicating scarves. Maybe I can bribe them to hold her down while I whap her for making me wear this outfit all evening where people can see me. Or, failing that, maybe I can just steal some and attach them to this dress... '_

After she was dropped off with a kiss to the hand and a courteous, sweeping bow, Kaoru headed purposefully towards where Misao was talking with Megumi, scarves flying as she moved her hands in typical Drama-Weasel fashion, nearly hitting the head of the oddly short, stooped man standing next to her.

"Megumi! Sano was telling me all about that missing body... ooo... spooooky...!"

The taller woman rolled her eyes and took another sip of her drink. "It's not _missing_ , Misao... it just got misplaced; as far as I know, they've decided it got sent to the wrong funeral home by mistake. The idiots in the morgue can't do paperwork correctly."

"You have no appreciation for the season," Misao pouted.

"How about I show you _my_ appreciation for the season by gettting you two to help me demonstrate some of the torture equipment decorating that back corner over there?" Kaoru asked sweetly, snapping her fan shut.

"There's torture equipment?" Misao asked, perking up. Meeting Kaoru's flat stare, she subsided with a sigh.

"Well, these shoes, for starters. If I wasn't sure it would make more of those dancing fools come up and try to bother me, I would be communing with the couches across from the graveyard."

"That's missing the point of your costume!" Megumi exclaimed. "More importantly, that's missing the point of making _me_ wear _this_ in public all evening!" Her hand gesture covered everything from the shoes Kaoru had carefully muddied and scuffed to the torn, poorly-stitched cap sitting on Megumi's normally immaculate, currently frizzed, hair.

Quailing under her cousin's glare, Kaoru tried a different tactic. "It's a beautiful dress; I have no problem admitting it's a beautiful dress! But it is not a dress which works well for _me_ at a party with lots of other people around. Do you not see the other people? Because there are a lot of them, clearly visible. I wasn't exactly born to flaunt, you know."

"First of all, there's nothing wrong with a little flaunting, especially when you know none of them are going to get anywhere. Second of all, there's _absolutely_ nothing wrong with flaunting in front of your significant other. In fact, it's practically part of the rules! Do you think if she wasn't here with her boyfriend, Misao would have chosen to run around in... ok, fine; bad example. My point is, you're wearing that outfit for you, and you're wearing it for Kenshin, and nobody else matters, so why are you worried?"

Kaoru wasn't sure where to start with that set of statements, so she settled for, "I didn't see Aoshi... when did he get here?"

Misao burst into giggles and pointed. Kaoru blinked at the man standing next to Misao, bent at an impossible angle—his head reaching to slightly above her shoulder, face made up to look hideous and twisted, muddied hair sticking out at angles that made Megumi's look tame.

"Hello, Ms Kamiya," he intoned, and Kaoru had to blink again to match Aoshi's cultured, deep voice, with the visage in front of her.

"See? We match," Misao claimed excitedly. "He was going to be Captain Phoebus, but I was re-reading the book, and... ewwww. I mean, _total_ bastard, start to finish. And, well, Grignoire was not only dull, but nobody would guess it, I don't care how "married" they were supposed to be. Besides which, this way he gets to show off his great disg—I mean, costume skills!"

"Oh." Kaoru said, somewhat weakly, "Well... that's great. I mean, I can see where it would be useful, having a boyfriend who's all... um... bendy like that."

Megumi sputtered and almost choked. Hitting her on the back, Misao muttered, "Told you not to drink when she's talking."

"What?" Kaoru said, looking at them.

"Nothing! Nothing at all," Megumi managed. "What did they put in here, cayenne pepper?"

"Oops.. sorry, Megumi; I guess I shouldn't have told Sano to consult with Yahiko about Halloween-themed drink ingredients."

Megumi's smile had a distinct edge to it as she asked, "So, where _is_ your charming brother this evening?"

"He's off trick-or-treating with Yutaro. And, before you ask, yes, he did spend most of the month claiming to be "way too old for that kids' stuff." Apparently, the prospect of getting a real samurai outfit for the evening _and_ trick-or-treating in the ritziest part of town _and_ sparring with his best friend between stops knocked years off his age."

"Where did he get a samurai outfit?"

"Yutaro's father had some." Before Misao could ask the question, Kaoru continued, "Yes, Misao, more than one. And, no, I did not get the chance to ask him why. Nor, if I had _had_ the chance, would I have asked, because there are some things I just don't want to know. All that matters to me is that not only is Yahiko out there, with company, being followed around by a limo with a driver—and no, Misao, that was not my idea— hitting up a bunch of ridiculously overpriced houses for his yearly allowance of sugar, but that he will be consuming most of that sugar over at Yutaro's house, where there is plenty of room for him to bounce off the ceiling and get it out of his system before Dad picks him up tomorrow."

"Wow, so neither of you are home to help your father with the traditional Kamiya dojo trick-or-treat extravaganza?"

"It's not an extravaganza," Kaoru said, mostly to Aoshi, who had raised an eyebrow at Misao's question. At least she thought he had raised an eyebrow; the costume made it even harder than normal to decipher his expression. "We just carve a bunch of jack o'lanterns and set them up, and we have some decorations for the lawn—a giant spider and a witch up in a tree; that sort of thing. And Dad always hands out Pocky. Don't ask me why. I think it's because he always ends up with leftovers he can eat afterwards."

There was a rustle of skirts behind her, and Kaoru turned to see Tae, balancing a tray full of food on her arm.

' _I don't believe it... somebody here ended up more extravagently dressed than me...'_ she thought as she looked at the normally staidly-clad restaurant owner. Tae's skirts were blue and gold, and her sleeves had puffs of tulle held by gumball-sized pearls. Elaborate lace cuffs extended up from her wrists, and she wore bracelets made of more large pearls. What really drew Kaoru's attention, however, was the stiff lace collar that extended out from the neckline of the dress. _'How is she not poking people's eyes out with that thing? And, more importantly, which would win in a battle against Misao's scarves...'_

"Marie Antoinette?" Megumi guessed, swirling the ice around in what remained of her drink.

"Anne of Austria," Tae replied. "Katsu, Sano, and I decided to go with "The Three Musketeers"... that is, characters from the book. Well, other than the title characters; we figured there would be _plenty_ of random Musketeers running around. Katsu is Cardinal Richelieu, and I'm Anne... Sano was _supposed_ to be the Comte de Rochefort, but he apparently went and watched the movie and decided he didn't want to wear an eyepatch. So now he's a Musketeer. _Any_ Musketeer; he didn't even bother to pick one!"

"I didn't care about the eyepatch!" Sano said, coming up behind Tae. "I just didn't want to be a redshirt-wearing evil subordinate! Also, we're out of pretzels."

Tae glared daggers at him. Kaoru could empathize with her annoyance at carefully-laid costume plans going horribly awry. Sighing, she said, "Right, fine, pretzels; got it."

"Thanks, Missy! By the way, awesome costume! Marie Antoinette?"

Kaoru leveled him with a flat stare and said, "Thanks, no, and I blame you."

Sano blinked. "Huh?"

"YOUR girlfriend's scheme got me into this. So you'd better make sure to take a picture of her in that Gavroche outfit, because that is the only way to appease me."

Sano opened his mouth, but Megumi's glare stopped whatever he was going to say. "No. Pictures." she said firmly. "And, for the record, it was not merely _my_ scheme."

Sensing a certain tension in the conversation, Tae interrupted, saying, "So, Misao, where on earth did you find all of those scarves? I mean, I remember the canary-colored ones, and some of the others, but I don't remember that one with all the sequins. It looks kind of like the fabric they draped up in the balcony to make the Moulin Rouge section; very nice!"

Misao colored faintly. "Does it? I mean, I haven't been up in the balcony area. At all. So I wouldn't know if they even had pretty, sparkly, colorful fabric."

Kaoru stifled a snort. _'Well, that explains the reproducing scarves.'_ Turning to Tae, she asked, "So, your Majesty.. um.. your Highness? Your most excellently be-pearled and spiffily collaredness? Is there anything else that needs refilling?"

Tae blinked, then looked thoughtful. "No, everything is under control as far as the regular food. You can check the rest of the bowls on your way to get the pretzels out if you like." Kaoru resisted the urge to salute and managed a curtsy instead. She was fairly proud of not falling over while she did it.

' _I think I'm getting better at moving in this idiotic thing. And if I hold my fan right, I can even manage to stand and talk with people and not die of... err... a draft.'_

As she headed off to fetch the pretzels, Kaoru wondered if maybe, just maybe, if she worked on the part with the fan and kept her expression suitably formal, she could go back to her original plan of spending some time with Kenshin, as long as he was at the party anyway, where there were plenty of other people around.

' _I wanted to talk with him, right? I mean, he's here, I know he's not going to start skewering the party guests or set the place on fire... oh... right... that was me... anyway, now that I've had some time to get used to this dress, and especially after seeing what Tae stuffed herself into, there's no reason to be afraid of a little dancing and conversation in a public Halloween-party-type enviro--- gah!'_

Kaoru's thought process stuttered to a halt at the feel of the hand against her backside. For a half-second, she assumed that thinking of her particular demon had made him appear, before she registered the strong scent of alcohol wafting through the air. For a further half-second, her brain wrestled with what was actually happening.

Then she turned, very slowly, her eyes narrowed and her mouth stretched into a smile guaranteed to scare off sharks.

"First Aid kit, sir? Why, of course. It's right behind the bar."

The flushed face of the man behind her took less than a half-second to move from confusion to comprehension. Kaoru moved considerably faster.

* * *

Kaoru's former dance partner stood in the shadows, leaning against a wall in a way which managed to be simultaneously inconspicuous and commanding. The contents of the cup in his hand hadn't actually been sake until shortly after he took it off of the waiter's tray. His eyes scanned the room restlessly, and he gave no sign of moving when he was approached.

"Well?" he said, not bothering with pleasantries.

Kenshin grimaced slightly as he looked into his own drink for a moment. It was true there were things unsuitable for discussing in a quick phone report, but that didn't mean talking about them in person was any easier. "Master, Abbot Hirei has been dead for three months," he said softly.

"What... happened?" If there was the faintest tremor in the hand holding the glass, it was hidden behind the lace cascading from his sleeve, and Kenshin made no mention of it. One did not tell Seijuro Hiko that he had shown any such signs of emotion in public. At least not more than once.

"The _verdict_ was accidental death."

"What was the nature of this accident?" Aoshi asked, appearing noiselessly at their side.

Hiko, who had been staring into his glass, raised his eyes.

"There was a car crash," Kenshin answered. "The driver apparently swerved to miss something in the road; the police were unable to figure out exactly what. It took place out in the woods, while they were returning home; speculation is that it was some kind of large animal. The other cars in the caravan were unaffected. No witnesses saw exactly what happened."

Aoshi raised an eyebrow. "Did witnesses see anything? Anything at the scene of the accident afterwards?"

"No." Kenshin understood what Aoshi was asking and continued, saying, "There was no attack other than whatever caused the car to swerve. It ws done with a minimum of magic, nothing enough to set off any alarms there or here. Abbot Hirei was allowed to simply die from the accident."

Kenshin refrained from pointing out the many worse fates which could have befallen their old friend. It wouldn't have lessened their grief. Besides which, he knew they were as aware of the nastier possibilities as he was. Instead, he said, "Unfortunately, the Abbot's chosen successor was also killed in the accident."

"Which meant that the next abbot was elected by the monastery?" Aoshi inquired.

Kenshin nodded.

Hiko frowned. "I don't understand. Granted, only the Abbot and his successor are privileged with the deepest secrets of the shrine's treasures, but any man there with the experience and wisdom to be chosen as Abbot must have lived there long enough to have an inkling..."

"This is where things become complicated," Kenshin admitted. "A year before the Abbot died, the monastery accepted a fairly large number of new members who arrived there after their own monastery had been forced to close. Abbot Hirei had picked a member of the new group as his successor, as a sign of cooperation and the joining of the communities. Then, when both of them were killed, the other monks voted to select another former member of that community, in the spirit of their former leader's previous gesture."

"And of course none of them would have known anything," Aoshi finished. "The entire corpus of information passed down orally from Abbot to Abbot would have simply been lost." He was scowling, and his knuckles were white as he clenched his drink. Kenshin could understand how he felt. While Kenshin's ties to the monastery went back further, it was Aoshi who regularly used it as a retreat for meditation.

Hiko sighed. "And I suppose that the closing of the second monastery was the result of entirely mundane issues?"

"Mostly. There was a gradual decline; some investments went bad over the past several decades. Nothing sudden; nothing suspicious. According to their records, they were planning to auction of a select group of the minor treasures of the monastery in order to restore their finances. That was when there was a fire. The damage was... more considerable than one would have expected in a holy place. Abbot Hirei offered to accept any members of that community into his own. The rest you know."

"How does all of that lead to the Mugenjin winding up in a museum in this country?" Hiko asked, his tone and expression neatly tacking a, "you idiot," onto the end of his question.

"Tsukayama had already approached them about the possibility of their contributing several weapons of historical interest, including the Mugenjin, to the exhibit. From what I was able to piece together of their correspondence, it involved a great deal of very polite dancing around the fact that Tsukuyama was asking for the other weapons only so that he could get the Mugenjin as a centerpiece for his exhibit and Abbot Hirei was absolutely not letting the sword out of his control." Kenshin paused, then said, "To his credit, Tsukayama did not approach the new abbot. Apparently, Abbot Hirei's successor remembered what had happened to his former home and wanted to begin his tenure by securing the monastery's finances."

"Not to mention that space in a major exhibition would attract the attention of other potential donors," Aoshi noted, grimacing. Kenshin idly wondered if it was the fact that Aoshi hadn't attached significance to the developments of the past several years or the thought of the monastery being overwhelmed with tourists that caused the expression.

"A carefully laid trap," Hiko observed. "Creating a crisis and directing everyone involved to a specific solution... has Saitoh reported back in yet?"

"He is scheduled to call in another half-hour," Aoshi replied. "He's expanded his standard patrol route since the theft, and he was planning on meeting tonight with several contacts who have ties to the docks. Of course," the usually tall ninja continued, "that is assuming there aren't any more incidents with trick-or-treaters."

"I spoke to him about it yesterday, and he assured me that it would not happen again," Hiko replied, taking another drink.

"Shame to mess with tradition," Kenshin muttered under his breath.

"Did you say something?"

"Nothing, Master. Just thinking about the holiday."

"Excellent. In that case, you won't mind covering the north section of town after Saitoh reports in."

"But..."

"No."

"I was thinking..."

"I highly doubt that. And you know that this is an emergency situation; we can't afford to have both you and Shinomori spending all of your time in the same quadrant. I agreed that we could meet here; you have another half-hour. That should be enough."

Kenshin refrained from pointing out that he would have had more time with Kaoru if certain _other_ people hadn't been dancing with her.

Aoshi, looking at Kenshin's espression, said, "She will be perfectly safe here, Himura. And you've already taken every possible precaution around her car and apartment. There is no need for your concern. We can best protect the ones who are important to us by working together to defeat the larger threat."

"Twenty-eight minutes," came the reminder as Kenshin's Master strode back into the crowd, the decorations on his costume catching and winking in the light.

Kenshin glared, but took the hint, as did Aoshi. With brief nods at each other, they headed back into the crowd.

* * *

Kaoru glared at the boxes and bottles and assorted cans on the shelves in the storage room and wondered yet again why she had agreed to be responsible for keeping the scattered bowls of pretzels and mixed nuts refilled throughout the evening.

' _Because you knew that those two mixed nuts tending the bar were going to be too busy pouring drinks and making small talk and keeping things under control, that's why...'_ she reminded herself. It was tradition that she and Misao and Megumi took charge of the non-catered aspects of the party that Sano and Katsu wouldn't have time for. It meant that more money could go to the cause of the day rather than being spent on additional staff people. Normally, Kaoru enjoyed it, or at least didn't mind; it gave her a chance to circulate and greet people, not to mention a nifty escape from boring conversations.

Normally, however, she was not wearing a dress that was making her give serious thought to remaining hidden in the supply room for the rest of the evening, where she would only have to worry about the occasional leering spider. The red dress was conspicuous, which she was not at all used to, and still hard to move quickly in, which annoyed her. In short, the attention she was getting roused all of her kendo-trained instincts, while the outfit causing the attention prevented her from actually moving the way that she'd been trained to. It was not a combination which allowed her to relax and enjoy the party the way that she usually did. After the last encounter with a Vicomte de Valmont-wanna-be, Kaoru was about ready to throw in her fan and declare herself done.

' _What on earth were those two thinking, picking something like this?'_ she wondered. _'Well, alright, they were thinking that they didn't want me wandering around in grubby, ripped pants and a jacket that looks like it got run over several times. Which it did, actually. And I happen to think that I achieved exactly the effect I was looking for.'_

Finally locating the section of the shelves where the party-specific supplies were located, Kaoru bit her lip in consideration. It was a fine art, figuring out how to ration the supplies of the course of a long evening so that they wouldn't run out but people wouldn't feel like they weren't being fed enough.

Well, maybe not a fine art, but it took planning, concentration, and watching to make sure that Sano didn't inhale half the pretzel supply when nobody was paying attention.

' _Speaking of planning and concentration, what is the best way to get the supplies to the bowls while avoiding any dress-related inconvenience? Well, other than removing the dress. In the sense of finding something else to wear, since running around in my underwear would be the opposite of solving my problem...'_

' _What on EARTH were they thinking...I swear, this is even worse than Megumi picking out those dresses at the mall the other...'_

It was a good thing that she hadn't actually picked anything up off of the shelves yet, because she was sure she would have dropped it.

Megumi. Misao. The afternoon at the mall. The way that Kenshin had calmly slithered in and pretended to be her boyfriend, leading Megumi to pick out date-appropriate dresses which Kaoru had taken and tried on in the...

Kaoru, her heart in her throat, suddenly realized that she had inadvertently committed one of the Top Five Horror Movie Heroine Blunders. Namely, she had wandered off on her own, away from the lights and the people, when she knew perfectly well that there was a demon after her.

Granted, this particular demon wasn't after her in the traditional horror movie sense, but that didn't change the fact that she was in a small, dimly-lit room, _by herself_.

' _In storage closets, nobody can hear you scream..._ ' she thought. _'Stupid, stupid; after the way that he was looking at you...even if you've decided to spend time with him on your terms, in public, that look was.. it was... well, not a good look to be alone with in a dark room containing no people... ok, blush later, Kaoru; now is the time to grab the big plastic jar of pretzels and head back out there, carefully, and hope that nobody, by which I mean Kenshin, noticed that you were...'_

"Have I told you, kitten, how _very_ much I like that dress?" Kenshin's voice drawled from out of the darkness next to the door.

' _Not out there with everybody else...'_ Kaoru finished, wincing as she turned around slowly and staring at the buckles on Kenshin's shoes before she hesitantly raised her eyes to look at his face.

Almost immediatly, she wished that she'd just stuck to working out whether his footwear was historically accurate or not. His eyes burned as bright as she'd ever seen them, something predatory in their fire that made her instinctively clutch the container of pretzels closer. It was fairly useless as a weapon, but there was something almost comfortingly shield-like about having it between herself and Kenshin. Pretzel-distance... that should keep him at bay, right?

' _One door... no windows... why couldn't Sano and Katsu have decided to keep the supplies someplace else, like a big, open room with lots of windows, and an escape hatch?'_

"You know, kitten," Kenshin said, allowing his eyes to once again travel slowly over her slender form, "Seeing you like this makes me wish that I had more time away from work tonight. But I think that we've got at least five or ten minutes until we really need to get back out there with everybody else.

Kaoru blinked, her nervousness lost in a sudden rush of surprise that almost made her drop the pretzels. Surprise, and annoyance.

' _He can't possibly have just said... Five... What kind of... how can he even think that... five minutes?'_

"You listen to me, you... you... perverted..." Kaoru sputtered, "If you think that you're just going to be able to sweep in here and... and... in that... I mean, _five minutes_ and you think that I'm just going to... I mean, that that's all you... and... and... there's _no_ way that I would even _think_ of..." she trailed off, seething.

Her rant made Kenshin pause briefly, eyebrows drawn together as he attempted to parse what she was saying. Then his eyes went wide and he threw back his head and laughed, before he looked at her again with a very fanged smirk, eyes full of wicked sparks.

"Don't worry, kitten, I have _no_ intention of letting our first time take place in some storage closet," he purred as he began to remove his gloves. Kaoru found her attention caught by the slow deliberation of his movements, the precision of his hands as he pulled the gloves off, one finger at a time. She swallowed hard, her mouth suddenly dry, as he slowly stepped forward with definite intent.

"Besides," he continued, never breaking eye contact even as he finished with one glove and went on to the second, "when it happens, believe me, I shall be sure to devote my _full_ attention to you..."

The second glove had been removed, and Kaoru stared at Kenshin's hands, transfixed, as he reached her. She couldn't move—she could hardly breathe—as he brought one hand up to brush against her hair and leaned in to whisper directly into her ear, "...and that, Kaoru, is absolutely going to take much, _much_ longer than a mere five minutes..."

She gasped as he began nibbling on her earlobe, delicately, sending shivers up and down her spine. His breath was warm against her neck, and her eyes closed as he began trailing light kisses down her throat. Somehow, as he was kissing her, he moved so that he was standing behind her, his body warm against hers as one arm circled her waist, behind the plastic pretzel jar that was slowly slipping from her nerveless fingers.

Kaoru barely noticed the thunk as it hit the floor. It seemed as if every part of her awareness was concentrated on where Kenshin was continuing to taste the skin at the nape of her neck, carefully brushing her hair out of the way with his other hand. The light prick of fangs, not even enough to break the skin, elicited a startled gasp from her, and she felt her knees grow weak as she leaned against him, practically feeling his heartbeat echoing through her. Kenshin tightened his arm, supporting her, murmuring lightly against her shoulder as he continued his explorations. She wasn't entirely sure what he was saying,low words of approval and praise of her appearance, of the way she felt against him, of the effect she had on him—she wasn't even sure if she would have been able to think enough to understand it if she could have heard it— but the tone was enough to cause additional shivers.

She reached one arm up, without conscious thought, letting her fingers stroke through his hair as she held him. Her other arm lay over the arm he had around her waist, and she was just starting to link her fingers with the warmth of his when he gave one final brush of his lips against the juncture of her neck and shoulder and then managed to turn her so that they were facing each other. Kaoru looked up at him with eyes that were wide and limpid, her feelings clearly visible in their sapphire depths. He smiled down at her, caressing her cheek with careful fingers. Then Kenshin leaned in and kissed along the path his fingers had marked, gentle brushes of his lips against her skin that had her leaning towards him, twining her arms around his neck. When Kenshin lifted her, she automatically tightened her hold on him so that she wouldn't lose her balance as he turned both of them so that were standing more securely in the shadows of the corner. He continued to kiss along her jawline and down her throat as he moved them, and the small part of her brain that was still capable of noticing such things appreciated his ability to to both things at the same time.

Then suddenly Kenshin was taking entirely unfair advantage of the neckline of her dress. Kaoru's eyes flew open in shock before fluttering closed again, and her fingers tightened almost convulsively where they were tangled in his hair. She bit her lip in an attempt to keep from crying out as he continued, but was unable to stop herself from gasping out his name in broken syllables when his tongue did something particularly wicked that jolted her to the core and made her dizzy with the sudden rush of heat through her veins. Time ceased to mean anything except the sound of his heartbeat, and she couldn't say how long it was until he raised his head and moved to claim her lips with his. When he finally kissed her fully, she made a pleased noise in the back of her throat and eagerly returned the kiss, needing his mouth against hers. He wrapped her in his embrace, pulling her close to his warmth as she melted against him, her hands exploring his shoulders and back.

It took a loud sqeak from the hinges of the door as it opened, then several distinctive footsteps into the room, to register through the warm haze in her mind. Kaoru jerked back from Kenshin in embarassment, but found that between his arms and the wall, she couldn't really put any distance between them. Kenshin merely stood still, continuing to keep her wrapped in his arms. Over his shoulder, she could see Sano, who had apparently lost the ridiculously plumed hat he had been sporting earlier, walking into the room and reaching up to the top shelf, retrieving several bags of tortilla chips and a small bag that he slipped into one of his pockets Then, without so much as glancing into the corner where Kaoru stood, holding her breath, Sano walked back out, carefully shutting the door behind him again.

The shock of almost having been discovered making out with Kenshin in a dark closet prevented Kaoru from speaking for several long seconds. Before she could decide exactly what she felt about that—whether she ought to be mad at Kenshin for, well, not exactly _cheating_ , per se, but... well, at any rate, she wasn't sure if she should be mad at _him_ for starting it, or be angry with Sano for interrupting.

She was saved from having to decide by Kenshin reaching up to run one finger down the smoothness of her cheek again as he commented, "Much as I hate to thank Sano for something like that, we really shouldn't stay in here any longer." Stepping back and giving her a courteous, courtly bow, he grinned, declaring "After all, Milady, I would hate to miss the opportunity to dance with you. Besides," and here he stood up again and leaned in, brushing his lips against her cheek as his voice took on that deeper, purring quality again, "if we're back here any longer, kitten, I refuse to be held accountable for my behavior. You're just too delicious to leave alone."

Kaoru gaped at him as he he backed up again and tucked her arm quite firmly into his. Kaoru took several steps with him out of habit before she collected her wayward thoughts enough to remember the reason she'd come into the storage closet in the first place.

Stopping mid-step, she tried to tug her arm away from Kenshin. When he resisted, she glared and quite firmly declared, "Pretzels!" At his confused blink, she pointed her free hand at the plastic tub on the floor and said, "I came in here to get those; I refuse to walk back out and have to explain why I have failed in my mission! I don't care if it is Halloween, nobody is going to believe that it's an evil demon's fault they are lacking snack food!"

Kenshin muttered something under his breath that sounded like a slightly huffy, "'m'not _evil_ ," but she ignored him in favor of retrieving the container and then marching back out the door. He put an arm around her waist and followed her outside, staying by her side as she went over to the bar and refilled the bowls there. Kaoru had to admit that there was at least one benefit to Kenshin's presence; namely, all of a sudden, there were no more leering glances directed at her—or rather, her bodice—no ridiculous pick-up lines, and no attempts to drag her out to the dance floor and ogle her. Well, except for the attempt being made by Kenshin himself.

She was just trying to figure out the best way to navigate the rest of the room and take care of the rest of the bowls when Megumi appeared at her shoulder. Kaoru jumped at her cousin's sudden appearance, accidentally elbowing Kenshin in the ribs.

"Oops! Sorry!" she exclaimed, before frowning slightly and correcting, "I mean, not that you didn't deserve it, but it wasn't on purpose. This time." Then, turning to her cousin, she said, "Sorry, Megumi. you are really hard to spot when you're dressed all... um... I mean, normally, you're so... er.."

Finding no good way to end that train of thought, Kaoru merely stopped and regrouped. "Um... pretzel?" she offerred weakly, holding out a bowl by means of a peace offering. To her great credit, Megumi managed a smile that was at least somewhat sincere as she accepted. After swallowing, her cousin said, "Actually, I came over to get the container from you so that I could finish filling the rest of the bowls." With a grin that was much closer to her usual fox-like expression, she continued, "I'm _sure_ that the two of you must have much _better_ things to do than take care of the snacks."

Kaoru felt her cheeks burning, but before she could come up with a suitable response, Megumi had left, one of her elegant, trilling laughs echoing over her shoulder. It took her another few seconds before she remembered that it was mostly Megumi's fault that she had spent much of the evening being accosted, ogled, and/or molested.

"Hey! Hey, get _back_ here, you..." she started, but before she could get any further, Kenshin had his arm firmly around her waist and was leading her towards the dance floor. She wriggled slightly in his hold and glared at Megumi's retreating form, muttering, " _Entirely_ her fault..."

It didn't help that she just _knew_ Kenshin's expression was another one of his smug grins. Unfortunately, since he seemed to have figured out how to stand so that she couldn't elbow him in the ribs, Kaoru had to content herself with more muttering as they reached the edge of the dance floor. She opened her mouth to say something about not really wanting to dance when she still had so many questions to ask him, and questions seemed much safer than dancing at the moment —in fact, she was trying to figure out the best way to suggest that she had reached some sort of limit to the number of times she could dance in the costume which had been inflicted on her.

Ok, fine, which she had inflicted on herself.

However, before Kaoru could formulate the sentence, Kenshin had moved to stand in front of her as the music shifted to something slow and romantic. She blinked at him as he gave her an exquisitely courtly bow and offered her his hand to lead her onto the floor. Feeling like a flock of butterflies had taken up residence in her stomach, Kaoru reached out one hand and hesitantly put it in Kenshin's. His fingers closed warmly around hers, and he smoothly tugged her forwards and into his arms, one going around her waist and the other holding her hand in a classical dance position.

"Um..." Kaoru started nervously, "I'm not really... I mean, I haven't.. well, ok, but not in a while, since gym class back in.. um... a while ago."

" _Dammit! Stupid wrong-fork-using guilty feelings! High school! You can SAY high school, Kaoru, without necessarily adding "when I repeatedly stabbed you to death"... he knows perfectly well that you killed him, and if he's not... I mean, if it doesn't bother the one who was actually... oh, various hells..."_

She was tempted to thunk her head against the nearest available surface, but since the nearest available surface was, in fact, Kenshin's shoulder, she ruthlessly stifled the instinct. Giving no sign that he's noticed her nervousness, or the unspoken reasons for it, Kenshin smiled at her and said, "You were fine before, remember? Just relax and follow my lead and don't worry about it."

' _Oh.. that's right... I was dancing with that man earlier, and managed not to inflict horrible damage on anybody... In fact, it was fun. Rats.'_ The thought that that meant her nerves now couldn't really be blamed on the dancing itself popped up suddenly, but she refused to pay any attention to it. Instead, she carefully placed her other hand on Kenshin's shoulder and tried to pay attention to the music and where her feet were. There was a bit of confusion over the latter for a minute as she tried to decide whether that meant she was trying to avoid Kenshin's feet or step on them. Either way, he seemed quite adept at keeping out of her way, so she gave up trying to figure it out and concentrated on listening to the music and moving along with it.

Kenshin moved with smooth precision; unsurprising, she thought, considering his skills as a fighter. Once they had been dancing for about half a song, he said, "You look especially beautiful tonight, kitten. I like what you've done with your hair."

"It wasn't _my_ idea," she grumbled, " _I_ was perfectly happy to go as Gavroche, but Misao and Megumi just _had_ to be clever about the costumes."

At that, he laughed, before he asked "Is _that_ why Megumi is wearing... I see. However, honesty compels me to inform you that you would have looked beautiful in anything you chose to wear."

She shot him a skeptical look, but the expression in his violet eyes was one of complete sincerity. Raising one eyebrow, Kaoru remarked, "Flatterer. You know perfectly well that I'm not.. that this isn't the way that I usually look. It's just dress-up."

"You are beautiful," Kenshin repeated, leaning in so that his breath ghosted warmly across her ear, "no matter what. Do you really think that it matters to me what you're wearing? When I look at you... your spirit shines so brightly in this world, with such courage and grace; how could I not... " His exhalation was almost a sigh, and when he spoke again, his tone was lighter. "One of these days, kitten, I will figure out how to get you to take a compliment gracefully."

Kaoru felt her heart kick in her chest at his words. She tried to find the words to counter what he had just said, to point out the flaws in his reasoning, but they drifted out of her reach like falling leaves. The music and the rhythm of their dancing as they moved with each other, the warmth of Kenshin's body against hers, the way that his scent surrounded her... all of it made it difficult for her to find any words at all, especially since Kenshin, once he had leaned in, felt no need to return to his former distance. Instead, he lingered where he could press his nose against her hair, adjusting his arms so that he was holding her even closer.

It was actually taking a great deal of effort on Kenshin's part to keep his movements slow, matching with the speed of the music and their dancing. The dress was beautiful; Kaoru looked spectacular, and he knew that the image of her tonight was going to remain burned in his memory. He wanted to pull Kaoru as close as he could, to wrap his arms around her to feel her heartbeat echoing through him. Actually, he thought to himself with a rueful smile, what he really wanted was to get Kaoru someplace where he could make sure that damned boning wasn't between him and the feel of her body against him. In the meantime, however, he could content himself with moving so that his arms were both around her waist, taking things slowly, so that by the end of the next song, Kaoru's arms were up around his neck and he was holding her flush against him. He didn't say anything, merely enjoying the closeness, letting the scent of jasmine wrap around him, wondering if Kaoru was even aware of the contented sigh she gave as she rested her head against his shoulder.

The pleasant, lingering warmth fluttering in Kaoru's stomach spread throughout her veins as she leaned against Kenshin, feeling the way his muscles moved as they danced. She was impressed that he was still managing to keep up a rhythm, rather than the mindless swaying she normally associated with slow-dancing at parties or nightclubs.

' _This... this is... nice...'_ she thought hazily. "Nice" wasn't exactly the word that she meant, but she couldn't seem to think of anything more appropriate, not when the music was fading into the background behind Kenshin's heartbeat and the rhythm of his breathing. She was so relaxed that it took her several long seconds to notice that one of Kenshin's hands was perilously close to wandering past the small of her back. When she did realize, she jumped in startlement and squeaked before attempting to pull back and get leverage to smack him. Kenshin's only response was to tighten his arms so that she remained pressed up against him, and murmur something low and indistinguishable against her ear, finishing with a nip at her earlobe that almost made her squeak again. Apparently seeing no need to pull back, he continued to lean against her, his breath tickling the hairs on the back of her neck.

" _Kenshin_!' Kaoru hissed at him, indignant, "If you don't move your hand this min-eep! _Remove!_ I meant _remove_ your hand from where it is, immediately, then..."

Before she could even finish uttering her threat, let alone carrying it out, there was a sudden acoustic screech that had her jumping against Kenshin again and wincing against his suitcoat.

"Um... Everybody?" Sano's voice sounded oddly distorted over the speakers of the club, even more so because it took Katsu several seconds to figure out how to turn the music off and get rid of the feedback problems. Once it seemed to have been taken care of, Sano glanced over at his partner for a nod indicating that it was alright to continue speaking.

Clearing his throat, he said, "OK, well, I'd like to welcome everybody to our annual Halloween charity bash thing... it's great to see so many people here, having a good time, and, um, dressing up according to the theme. And let's have a big hand for Katsu, who picked the theme out this year!"

Pausing to let the applause, hollars, and occasional cat-call die down, Sano grinned and continued. "Anyway, we're all glad you're here, helping to raise money for a darned good cause, the Pediatric Oncology Unit at North General. For those of you who feel like giving a little extra, there's a donation box over by the bar. For those of you who'd rather donate by buying more drinks, there's a bar over by the donation box. Remember, all proceeds go to a terrific cause."

Gesturing, Sano continued, "As always, there are a lot of people to thank for putting all of this together... first off, Misao Makimachi and Kaoru Kamiya, for the work they put into the decorations. And, of course, Tae and the rest of the folks over at the Akabeko for the appetizer platters." Kaoru blushed slightly as the people around her turned to give her grins and thumbs-up signs. Kenshin squeezed her shoulders and dropped a light kiss against her hair, murmuring something complimentary about her decorating abilities.

Sano ran a hand through his hair before he kept going with his speech, "Of course.. well, none of this would be happening without one very special lady, a lady whose dedication to her job is what inspired this, Dr. Megumi Takani! Let's give her a big hand!" As he pointed out into the crowd, the spotlight moved to hit Megumi where she was standing next to Tae.

From where she was standing, Kaoru could see Megumi's expression turn from delight at the turn-out to slightly panicked shock as everybody's attention was directed towards her. Knowing her cousin as well as she did, Kaoru knew that it wasn't the attention that was the problem; it was the fact that she was getting that attention while looking like she'd last had a bath and change of clothes in nineteenth-century France—especially when Tae was so dressed up. Before Megumi had a chance to react, Sano had lept down from the stage and grasped her arm, dragging her back up into the spotlight at the front of the room. He didn't let go of her hand once he got there; instead, he turned back to the assembled crowd.

"The first time I met her," Sano reminisced, "was late one night in the Emergency Room, when some friends brought me in for a busted hand and a concussion. I hadn't wanted to go to the hospital; hell, I didn't even notice the concussion..."

Ignoring the cries of, "Yeah, you wouldn't, rooster brain!" he kept going. "Anyway, she patched me up, gave me good advice—which I ignored—and sent me on home. The next time we met was the week after that, when I messed up the cast on my hand." Looking slightly embarassed, Sano remarked, "Her advice that time was... umm.. much more direct, something I'm sure you guys are familiar with."

"Next time, I brought flowers... which she tossed out in the examining room after threatening me with all sorts of invasive tests that weren't really related to my hand. So, I figured she liked me."

"Oh, dear; she's going to kill him... she's going to chop him up into little bits and stomp on them, and we're going to be dealing with dismembered rooster as well as the rest of the clean-up...' Kaoru murmured as she looked at her cousin's darkening expression.

Kenshin's lips twitched, but he didn't say anything.

"Finally, I bribed Kaoru to spill about Megumi's favorite coffee, and whether she preferred bagels or muffins, and once I'd brought her breakfast a couple of times, I managed to get her to agree to go out with me so that I would stop bothering her at work."

"... and now I won't have to worry about rooster clean-up, because she's going to kill _me_. And I can't even climb out windows in this stupid dress." Kaoru sighed a deep sigh of resignation to an unpleasant fate. "Well, Kenshin, it's been nice knowing you; try to stay out of the way of the upcoming carnage, and tell my family I was thinking of them in my final moments..."

"Don't worry, kitten; she'll have to go through me first."

"You've never seen Megumi when she's really mad, have you? Flee; save yourself; live long and prosper; don't let the door hit you on the way out... Ack, she's looking over here, keep smiling or she'll kill us all..."

This time, Kenshin was forced to disguise his laugh as a cough and then fight to keep his expression under control. Even though he knew she wasn't being _completely_ serious.. he hoped... he knew Kaoru and her family well enough to know that it wasn't a totally misplaced fear.

Sano was reminiscing about his first real date with Megumi, and she looked like the only thing keeping her from beating him over the head with a shoe was the presence of other people, many of whom she was counting on for future donations. When Sano stepped back, taking her other hand in his as well, she blinked at him.

"This is for the woman who has always believed in me, even when she was throwing heavy objects... the woman whose dedication to her patients, to making the world a better place, has been an inspiration to everybody around her... I can't imagine my life without her, and I sure as hell don't want to ever try."

He took a deep breath as he knelt in front of her, letting go to pull a small velvet box out of his pocket and open it. "Meg, I love you. Will you marry me?"

For a moment, there was stunned silence as everybody in the club registered Sano's words. Megumi's eyes had widened to the size of saucers, and her jaw had dropped; in fact, it wasn't entirely clear whether she was actually breathing or not.

Then everybody started talking at once, cheering and clapping. Kaoru let out an excited squeal Kenshin suspected of breaking the sound barrier and threw her arms around his neck, kissing him enthusiastically on the cheek before turning to face the stage and clapping enthusiastically.

Megumi blinked, started to say something several times, then finally managed to nod as she said, "Y... yes? I mean..." She let out an audible sniffing noise before she exclaimed, "Yes! YES!" and flung herself at Sano as he stood back up. He made a relieved noise and spun her around before kissing her passionately, dipping her briefly before he pulled her back up. Flashbulbs went off; Kaoru wasn't sure who other than Katsu was taking pictures, but it seemed like there were going to be many choices for the hospital website's report on the annual party.

When he finally let go, to loud cheers and wolf whistles, Megumi sniffled and smacked him on the shoulder. Sano caught her hand and brought it up to kiss it before he put the ring on it. Kaoru couldn't really see the details of the stone or the setting from where she was standing, but she could tell that it was impressively large and sparkly. Megumi looked at it, still starry-eyed, until the sight of her hands made her remember exactly what she was wearing. She blanched visibly, even under the ashes and dirt decorating her face, and Kaoru tried to keep from laughing.

"Oh, dear," she said, "I think Megumi just figured out that her dream proposal was.. umm.. not exactly as she had imagined it."

"She gave her consent, though; that's the important thing," Kenshin noted. "I mean, he asked and she said yes."

"Of course she said yes! And of course she's going to marry him; that's not the issue. It's just that, well, now her children and grandchildren will have pictures of Megumi getting proposed in an outfit that no amount of Photoshopping can really save from looking... umm... well, like something her scruffy cousin would pick out to wear at Halloween."

Whatever Kenshin was going to say was cut off by the arrival of Misao, who was waving her arms (and the attached scarves) frenetically and making loud, excited squeals bordering on hypersonic and bouncing on her feet as she tried to formulate the questions she wanted to ask. With her years of interpreting Misao-speak, Kaoru was able to interject appropriate answers.

"Yes, Misao— she was completely surprised; Sano did a really good job of keeping it a... no, I had no... yes, the ring did look spectacular... yes, she probably will try to kill the photographers... yes, this might be the best Halloween ever... sweetie, don't forget that you need to breathe, ok?"

Misao finally stoppped, contenting herself with a final squeal and giggle. "I just had to come over for a sec before I go back to take over the D.J. gig from Katsu. He's got to head back to the bar for the end of the party."

With that, she spun around, scarves flaring, and headed over to the music table.

"Misao in charge of music... the mind boggles... and then runs away," Kaoru said as the Pussycat Dolls started blasting from every speaker. "I guess that will help serve as notice that the party is coming to an end, and everybody should flee." Turning to face Kenshin, she bit her lip hesitantly. "Umm.. the music is probably going to be on the loud side.. but.. um.. do you want to try to dance to it? Together, I mean. With each other. Um."

Kenshin leaned forward and kissed her, lightly, before running a hand down her cheek. "Thank you, kitten. It means more than you know that you asked... unfortunately,' he sighed, "I have to get back to work."

"Anything in particular, or just preventative?" Kaoru queried. ' _Yahiko is out with Yutaro... what if...'_

Reading her expression, Kenshin said quietly, "Don't worry; nothing is after your brother. It's mostly about the theft at the museum; I have some alleys I need to skulk around in looking for clues and tracking down leads. Besides, Halloween is always a time when an eye needs to be kept on things. You never know when a group of idiots is going to try to summon the spirit of Alastair Crowley or some fool thing. Before I go, though..." Kenshin paused, smoothly slipping out of his jacket and placing it around Kaoru's shoulder. "This should help keep you warm, and make sure you don't run into any more problems with idiots."

He wrapped the jacket around her and then pulled her close to kiss her again, tenderly, holding his forehead against hers for a long breath before he pulled back. "Thank you for this evening," Kenshin said, "I look forward to taking you dancing again, properly, some evening."

The expression in his eyes as he gave her another courtly bow made it clear that he didn't want to be leaving. Kaoru watched him duck past a Madam Defarge who was just starting to wave her knitting needles in time to the music, and then around one of the bar's pillars. He didn't appear on the other side.

Kaoru watched the space where Kenshin had been for several long moments, thinking. _'He really is dedicated to his job,'_ she thought _'I mean... he didn't try to drag me back into the storage closet, or up to the balcony, and he didn't even keep me in the storage closet until he had to leave, because he wanted to be sure to dance with me. And it was fun. Ok, not as useful as asking him questions, except... well, the fact that he wanted to stay, but that going off and protecting people from demon-related incidents and their own idiocies was something he felt he had to do... that says something.'_

And it did. Between finding out the truth about Kenshin's work, and seeing him forego the party so that he could go back out to do his job, Kaoru was feeling slightly dizzy from the change in perspective. Or possibly that was the corset.

' _I... like him. He's not just playing at being nice, or at liking me, or... or... being attracted to me because I'm part of some nefarious and convoluted scheme. He really... I mean, this whole time... And... and I think I really, really like him.'_

Kaoru gulped.

' _Wow.'_

She was still nervous about poking her feelings more deeply, of trying to figure out exactly what their boundaries were, or where they might be heading, and the thought of tracking down Kenshin to demand that he explain what he had meant on the dance floor, or give her a neatly-typed and cross-indexed list of what it was about her that had made him feel.. however he felt... still made her feel like there was a whole flock of seasonally-appropriate bats in her stomach. But, as she stood there, staring past the crowds in the bar, Kaoru found her mouth kicking up in an irrepressible, slightly giddy smile, with one thought percolating up through the stillness...

' _Waitaminute... WHAT theft at the museum?'_

* * *

"I _still_ say we should have kicked all those Dickens folks out."

"Sheesh, Katsu, give it a rest. It's nineteenth-century; it was set in France; that should be close enough."

Katsu muttered something as he continued to wipe down the bar. Kaoru rolled her eyes and kept on helping Tae pack up the appetizers.

"How much longer are you going to take over there, Your Eminence? I want to get over to the dojo before Dad goes to bed."

"Never fear, my lady! Amongst my cleaning arsenal are surprise, fear, ruthless efficiency..."

"And a nifty red uniform?"

"Exactly!"

Since Megumi was still alternating between a kind of dewy-eyed daze over Sano's proposal and near-incandescent fury that he had asked her to marry him while she was wearing rags and covered in dirt, Misao and Kaoru declared her to be exempt from cleaning duties.

As Misao put it, one Halloween where Sano almost ended up hanging from the bar sign by his underwear was really more than enough.

Instead, they had sent her home—or, rather, they had sent her to Sano's apartment, which he had apparently secretly been turning into what Katsu referred to as "a love nest which would make your average Turkish harem quarters blush." The rest of them were helping with clean-up. Misao, who had changed back into street clothes, was roaming the floor with large trash bags. Tae and Kaoru had been declared exempt from the potentially messy task of rounding up half-empty glasses and paper plates on the grounds that their costumes were too ornate to risk around spills and too complicated to wriggle out of. Besides which, everybody had pointed out that Kaoru's father deserved to see just how resplendent his Kenjutsu princess could look. After Misao had threatened to call him and ask him what _he_ thought, Kaoru had stopped protesting and agreed to stick to light clean-up.

"Thanks, guys!" Katsu said as Kaoru and Tae finished packing up the food. "We're closed tomorrow, so you don't need to worry about taking the decorations down or anything. I figure that since we've stowed the perishables in the fridge and taken care of the clutter, I can get the first load of glasses into the dishwasher and then we can all go home."

Tae put the last of the containers into a cooler and said, "Here, Katsu; let me give you a hand with that. Kaoru, you should probably take off if you still want to catch your dad; here, take a cooler with you; I'm sure he and Yahiko will appreciate the leftovers. Misao, you might as well take this other cooler. You guys can be proud; this was a great party, and I know Megumi will be happy with the amount of money raised."

Katsu grinned "I don't think the money was her best take of the evening, though."

"True..." Tae's expression matched his. "I'll start planning wedding cake designs if you start coming up with cocktail recipes!"

"Deal! Assuming she doesn't kill him once she sees the pictures."

Laughing at her friends, present and absent, Kaoru picked up the cooler, her bag, and Kenshin's coat, which she had taken off once the guests had left.

"Happy Halloween to all, and to all a good night!" she said, waving as she headed out to her car.

' _That was a great party, overall,'_ Kaoru thought happily to herself, unlocking the door and putting the cooler and jacket into the back seat. _'Of course, I'm still not sure that I can drive while wearing this skirt, but I'm game to try...'_

It was actually less difficult than she had feared; the fact that there wasn't much traffic on the streets helped considerably. Kaoru hummed to herself as she drove along.

' _Dad is really going to like this dress... which will naturally lead to questions about why I'm wearing it, in between raids on the Pocky leftovers... which will obviously lead me to blame Misao and Megumi for coming up with such a hare-brained scheme... which will logically lead to an excellent opening for me to talk about the very specific red-headed reason why THIS was the year they picked for their schemes... Oh, boy. Or, oh, demon. Who I suppose I should at least mention to Dad at this point, since I've learned that he's not all evil, and since Yahiko already knows more than he should, and since...'_ Kaoru took a deep breath.

' _Since I've decided that yes, I like him, and yes, he likes me for real, and this has become... well, something. An actual thing. A thing I don't quite have figured out yet, but that's ok. I think. Ok, first things first... get home, show Dad the dress, hope he doesn't have a heart attack, change into something more comfortable, raid the Pocky, then broach the subject of boys. And hope that Dad doesn't decide to invite him over to dinner. At least not when he's going to be cooking.'_

As she pulled up into the driveway, Kaoru could see that her Dad had turned off the house lights already. She made a face; she really hadn't wanted to wake him up, especially not when she was worried she looked more like some eighteenth-century spectre than his darling daughter. Heading up the steps, she was just deciding that her best plan involved a lot of loud calling out turning on lights once she was in the living room and when she looked over across courtyard to the training hall.

Kaoru blinked.

One of the shoji doors looked like it had been torn halfway off its hinges, and there was a large hole through the rice paper, through which she could see the splintered sticks of the frame.

' _What the... oh, I'm going to kill those kids, they KNOW better than to throw things at the door... dammit, we just had those repaired last year, and...'_

As she hitched up her skirts and headed over to take a closer look, fulminating under her breath the whole time, Kaoru suddenly realized that there was something about the quiet courtyard that wasn't quite right.

The dark in the courtyard was a sharp contrast against the light patches of moonlight, and even the normal insect noises had stilled. She couldn't even hear the sounds the old building made in the wind, and she swallowed around a throat gone suddenly dry. As she got closer, she could see that the lightbulbs in the lamps around the courtyard had been shattered, and small shards of glass glittered faintly.

' _This isn't right... this isn't right... there's something...'_

Every step across the courtyard towards the gaping hole in the training hall door seemed harder, as if the shadows were clutching at her ankles.

Kaoru suddenly felt an accute need to have a weapon in her hand.

And the closest weapons were in the training hall, right?

Which was another reason to pick one foot up, then the other, no matter how much the hairs on the back of her neck were standing up, no matter how much the faint scent teasing her nose was telling her to run and not look back and shake her father awake and get him to tell her that it had just been some stupid kids, some stupid Halloween prank which he had already dealt with, and that she would have a new group of idiots to beat some sense into tomorrow once they'd finished repairs.

One step forward.

She'd reached the bottom of the stairs, stepping carefully around bits of debris, holding her skirts up out of pure habit.

Another step. And another.

The door frame was jagged and splintered and dark, and Kaoru had to be extra careful not to cut herself as she wiggled it sideways enough to get through.

The air was cold, but it felt too thick to breath, and she had to make a conscious effort, in and then back out, biting her lip to stifle a faint whimpering noise at the smell her brain was balking at identifying. She didn't want to make any noise, at least not until she had a weapon in her hand and could defend herself against whatever had...

... had scattered the neatly-organized racks of bokken and shinai along the walls, leaving broken pieces strewn haphazardly...

... against whatever had left the dojo floor stained and spattered with a color that could never, _ever_ have been paint, no matter how dark it looked in the moonlight...

... against whatever had...

...whatever had...

Kaoru felt her heart stop, her breath stop, _everything_ stop at the sight of the figure laying carelessly sprawled in the middle of that floor, those stains...

"Dad? ... DAD!"

She didn't even register moving from her frozen state, didn't register the feel of the floor against her knees as she fell heavily beside him, didn't register anything except cold and the scent of blood and her own voice, screaming over and over again to the uncaring dark.

" _DAAAAD!"_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Chapter: Late-night vigils, doctors, and endless waiting... Kaoru has never liked hospitals...
> 
> In this chapter I don't own: Various things Kaoru quotes, including Disney's "Aladdin," the original "Star Trek," and "Twas the Night Before Christmas." Nineteenth-century works of literature which I also don't own include: "The Three Musketeers," "The Hunchback of Notre Dame," "Dangerous Liasons" (which is technically from 1782, but apparently wanted to be used anyway), "Tale of Two Cities." Other works of literature which I don't own include Monty Python's "Spanish Inquisition" sketch (which I bet people weren't expecting!), or the Halloween plotline of the 2004 'Scary Go Round" (couldn't resist a small shout-out, though).  
> I do, however, own Pocky! Bwa ha ha!
> 
> Additional author's note: Corrected the grammar on the chapter title.


	34. Interlude, With White Coats

_beep.... beep... beep... beep_

Even from her position in the hallway waiting area outside of the doors leading to where the doctors were working feverishly, Kaoru could faintly hear the noise of the operating room machines. Every so often, a white-coated figure would rush past or back out again, and she would catch fragments of sentences, sharp and disconnected.

Underneath it all, the machine keeping track of her father’s heartbeat kept going with a monotonous rhythm that Kaoru struggled to find comforting. The beeps meant that her father’s heart was still going. The beeps meant that, whatever else was going on, at least _that_ was one nightmare she wasn’t going through.

It was terribly tempting to just curl up in the chair and close her eyes, but Kaoru held herself rigid. She didn’t want any of the hospital staff to come over and ask her if she was alright, or attempt to give her more hospital cafeteria coffee. It was an indication of her mental state that she’d drunk half a cup before realizing what she’d been handed, and then hadn’t been able to think of anything better to do with the rest of it than dump it out into a convenient planter. 

She was pretty sure that the ficus tree was fake, anyway. 

Her suspicion that it was now looking slightly droopy and that some of the leaves were decidedly crinklier was something she was not examining too closely.

Besides the lack of privacy, Kaoru knew that it was only a matter of time before her friends showed up. Her friends... and her little brother.

_‘I have to be strong for Yahiko... Yahiko shouldn’t have to feel like he needs to take care of me as well as worrying about Dad! That’s not fair to him.’_

The atmosphere of the hospital was stifling her; it seemed like the beeping of the machines kept getting more and more intrusive. Kaoru fought down the urge to bolt; she would not leave her father alone, and she didn’t want everybody to worry about her. Besides, the doctors would be coming back once they had finished examining the X-rays, and she wanted to know what they were going to say.

She didn’t know how long it was until she heard the elevator door open, quietly, and soft footfalls coming down the hallway. Looking away from the wall, she was unsurprised to see Kenshin, his violet eyes filled with concern, walking towards her. Without saying a word, he knelt in front of the chair she was sitting in and brushed her bangs away from her face carefully before he took both of her hands in his.

“Your hands are cold,” Kenshin murmured, holding them carefully, as if he was afraid she’d break. Somebody had found hospital scrubs—at least, he assumed they were scrubs—for her to wear instead of the fancy Halloween dress from the party, but her hair was still elaborately curled, and the remnants of make-up around her eyes made them appear hollow and haunted.

“Kaoru... are you alright?”

“I’m fine... I didn’t get there until... it was after whatever happened to Dad. Nothing happened to me.”

“Kaoru...” Kenshin said softly, “That’s not what I meant. Are _you_ alright?”

She looked at him, and he could see the faintly lost expression in her eyes for a brief second before she got herself back under control. Kaoru’s eyes flicked briefly to the door at the end of the hallway as another nurse rushed in with a tray of instruments before she replied, “Thank you... I’m just waiting for everybody else to get here...”

Trailing off, she looked down to where their hands were joined and realized that there was still blood around her nails. There was still blood.... 

Kaoru went tense, staring. “I... I should wash my hands before they get here,” she blurted, moving to stand up. Kenshin stood with her, a single fluid movement, and refused to let go.

“Kenshin... I need to...”

“Kaoru, it’s going to be ok,” Kenshin said. She could almost see the desire to take her into his arms in his eyes, and she took an infinitesimal step backwards, still stiff and tense. Kenshin opened his mouth as if to say something, but before he could utter a word, Megumi and Misao rounded the corner, with Sano close behind them. 

Kaoru pulled back with a sudden motion that was completed before the other three were fully in the little waiting area. Kenshin allowed it, letting her hands go as she moved. She had barely managed to stand back, away from him, when Misao hit her with a hug. To the girl’s credit, she didn’t tackle Kaoru with her usual force. Instead, she put her arms around Kaoru’s shoulders for a brief moment before she also stepped back, her expression speaking volumes about how concerned she was. Megumi hugged Kaoru as well, before saying, “I’m going to go ask for an update. I’ll be right back, ok?” 

“But, Megumi—that’s the operating area! Only doctors can... oh, right. Sorry.” Kaoru flushed slightly, embarrassed at her gaffe. 

However, rather than delivering one of her usual cutting remarks, Megumi just repeated, “I’ll be right back.” 

Kaoru watched her cousin go and swallowed, then blinked as she realized Misao had been saying something. “What?” 

“I said, we brought coffee. Sano has it. If you want it. It’s in a thermos, so it’s not going to get cold, if you don’t want it. I mean, if you want it later instead of now. Because, um, the vending machine coffee in hospitals is only good for stripping grease off of bolts. Well, according to Sano, and if _he_ thinks that the coffee is awful, you can imagine what it tastes like to normal people.” 

“Hey!” Sano protested, putting the thermos down. “There’s nothing wrong with my whatjamacalit… um… palate! Nothing wrong with my palate.” 

Before Misao could respond, Kenshin stepped in, saying, “Thank you for the coffee. I’m sure it will be very good.” 

Misao blinked at Kenshin, suddenly seeming to register his presence for the first time.

“Aoshi said to call him as soon as you get a chance,” she told him. “He said that it wasn’t urgent, but, you know, as soon as you can.”

Kenshin nodded. He supposed that he wasn’t surprised; knowing Aoshi, he was taking any attack on Kaoru’s family members as a personal challenge to his security skills. By the time Kenshin called, Aoshi would probably have performed a complete sweep of Kaoru’s apartment building, as well as the dojo, the club, and anyplace else he felt was necessary or relevant. 

Kenshin also knew that “as soon as you can” was essentially code for “Take care of everything at the hospital first and don’t bother me until you’re ready to pay complete attention to my report.”

Rejoining the rest of the group, Megumi said, “Ok. Did the doctors give you any specific information yet, any diagnosis? Did they tell you what they were going to be doing?”

“Um... “ Kaoru said, trying to collect her thoughts. “I... they... took X-rays... they have to set his leg... they’re thinking they have to put pins in... and... there were stitches... they did that already... and... I think... there was something about skull pressure, or brain pressure, or something... they did something... they were thinking they might need to do something... I don’t know...”

Truth be told, Kaoru had only half been listening to what the doctors had said, her mind replaying the scene in the dojo over and over and over again during the ride in the ambulance. Then she had sat and waited, numbly, for everything to be finished. When she’d gotten to the hospital, she’d answered the questions about insurance and family policies mechanically, twisting her hands over and over again in the fabric of her dress. It had taken the nurses ten minutes to realize that the darker splotches staining Kaoru’s skirt weren’t part of the normal fabric, and another ten minutes for them to find her something else to wear. 

“Ok,” Megumi said again, her professional demeanor clearly in place. “That’s fairly normal. They are probably going to be in surgery for another couple of hours; they’ll want to make sure the bone is set absolutely correctly. He seems to be stable, and his pulse is very regular. That’s good. It’s very important, especially in these early stages of a head injury. They should be sending somebody soon to give you more details. We can go wait in the lounge, ok? I mean the upstairs doctor’s lounge, not the one with the horribly tacky plastic chairs.” 

At that, Kaoru focused on her cousin, blinking, suddenly putting pieces together, “Megumi… you were… I’m sorry; you and Sano, you were supposed to be home, and…” 

Her cousin shushed her and said firmly, “It’s alright, Kaoru. We hadn’t even gotten back to the apartment yet. We stopped to get coffee and donuts at that diner over on Third, and we were just on our way out when you called.” 

“Oh…” Kaoru murmured, “That’s good.” Her voice sounded slightly lost, as if she knew that she should say something in response to her cousin, but wasn’t sure what. Kenshin didn’t blame her. 

“What’s happening with Yahiko?” Misao asked as they headed down the hall and into the elevator.

“Kid’s probably asleep… or, you know, bouncing off of the walls after eating his weight in Halloween candy. I’ll go get him in the morning, ok, Missy?” Sano said. “I can just bring him straight here if you want me to. Club’s closed tomorrow anyway.” 

“Yutaro said they’d bring him over tonight… I thought it was important… I mean, Yutaro’s father said it was alright for Yahiko to just sleep over there and wait until I knew more, but I didn’t want to have to suddenly tell him in the morning, especially if… if Dad….” 

“He’s not going to die,” Misao said determinedly. “He’s as stubborn as you are! He’s not going to let some idiot Halloween trick-or-treat prank attempt gone horribly wrong… because, you know, this was probably just teenagers trying to vandalize things again, and he was still there, and… I mean… it’ll be fine; he’s going to be fine. All you Kamiyas are stubborn as rocks. Umm.” 

Kaoru almost smiled at Misao’s tone, hiding a sudden sniffle. 

The upstairs lounge was indeed more comfortable, with a tiny kitchen area and a set of couches and chairs grouped around a low table covered with magazines and a remote for the small television in the corner. Sano immediately claimed the couch, sprawling across it and stretching out. Kenshin put the coffee thermos down next to the microwave and started hunting through the cupboards for usable cups.

“Try the dishwasher,” Megumi advised. “Nobody ever ends up having the time to put anything back into the cupboard; it just goes from the sink to the dishwasher and back again. It’s worse than college.” 

“Ms Kamiya?” The doctor who came into the lounge holding a clipboard, wasn’t one Kaoru remembered having seen before. However, given the number of hospital personnel she’d had to deal with in the past hours, she knew that not remembering didn’t really mean anything. 

“How is my father?” she asked, aware of how everybody else in the group had fallen silent and gathered around her supportively. 

“He’s currently stable; we’re almost done setting his leg. He had two distinct fractures, and an anterior cruciate ligament tear—that’s the knee joint. The other leg is fine, although he did sustain some cuts, which we’ve stitched, and his ankle was sprained. I’ll give you some brochures on the knee injury. There were also numerous other lacerations, which we’ve stitched; there was significant blood loss, but fortunately you found him in time and none of the major arteries were hit. We didn’t find any debris or glass in the injuries themselves, which is good. Some may turn up later, though; there are often small particles that work their way out of the wound once it starts healing. Three of his ribs were fractured, but fortunately there was no lung puncture.” 

The doctor flipped through some pages on his clipboard and continued, “The most significant issue, of course is the head injury. There’s some swelling and a possible brain herniation we’re keeping an eye on. We’ll know more when the test results come back; once the surgery for his leg is finished, we’ll do an MRI. Right now he’s in a coma…” 

Kaoru inhaled sharply, barely registering Kenshin’s arm around her shoulder or the way that he was supporting her. 

The doctor raised a hand. “It’s not a deep coma; his score on the measurement scales is very good. He’s breathing on his own, for now, but we have a respirator ready in case it becomes necessary. Really, with this kind of head trauma, a coma is very standard, and we’ll be monitoring him very carefully. There were no toxins in his blood, and no sign of existing illness or infection, so we just need to keep an eye on the brain itself and see what the best course of action is.”

“So is he going to be ok?” Misao demanded. 

“With time and physical therapy, full recovery should be achievable,” the doctor said, “Obviously, he’ll need to work very hard to get his leg back up to full strength. In terms of the coma… well, as I said, we’re going to be performing an MRI and determining the location and severity of the swelling. It’s possible that he’ll need to have surgery to remove fluid build-up, but really, Ms Kamiya, he seems to have, errr… had a very thick skull; there weren’t any fractures.” 

Kaoru wasn’t sure if the doctor was being serious or trying to make a joke. She tried to sneak a glance at Megumi, to see if she could glean any hints about hospital humor and how to react to it, but her cousin was busy scribbling notes and thus no help. 

Having finished what he had come to say, the doctor closed his clipboard and looked at Kaoru, clearly awaiting a coherent response.

“Thank you,” Kaoru said. _‘I hope that counts as “coherent,”_ ’ she thought. 

Fortunately, the doctor, who was obviously used to talking with patients and their families under all sorts of circumstances, gave her a smile and said, “You’re welcome. We’ll update you when he’s out of surgery and being moved to recovery. Feel free to ask at the desk if you need anything while you’re waiting.” With that, he turned and went back into the operating area 

“I told you he was as hard-headed as the rest of you,” Misao declared. Her voice held only the faintest traces of unsteadiness, and her jaw was determined as she said, “Alright… Megumi, when Yahiko gets here, where are they going to tell him to go? I mean, can he come up here without an escort or anything?” 

“I’ll go wait for him,” Sano said, clearly relieved to have something constructive he could do. They know me; it won’t be a problem to get back up here. Um… he’ll have changed out of the samurai costume, right?”

Kaoru nodded distractedly as she sat down, feeling an odd mix of nerves and relief at the doctor’s update. “Yes, he’ll have changed… I assume he will have changed… I mean, he was wearing normal clothes when he went over there, and he had normal clothes for tomorrow for coming back… although, considering those two, they might have decided to have an all-out samurai pillow war or something…. The house has enough room for it, and that main bannister is horribly tempting for… ”

Realizing that she was babbling, Kaoru closed her mouth and swallowed before trying again. 

“Yahiko should have changed back; if he hasn’t, I’m sure they can find scrubs for him, like they did with me. Thanks for volunteering, Sano; bring him up as soon as he gets here.” 

Sano nodded. “Ok. Want anything from the cafeteria when we come back?” 

“Sanosuke Sagara!” Megumi interjected. “You did _not_ just offer my cousin something from the hospital cafeteria!” 

“It’s always seemed fine to me…” Sano replied weakly. 

Megumi shuddered. “How does that relate to inflicting it on normal people? If we get hungry, we’ll send you to get something later. Meanwhile, go wait for Yahiko to get dropped off. If Yutaro or his father ask how everything is going, just tell them that the doctors said things were stable. No point in giving them the details before Yahiko has had a chance to hear them from Kaoru.” 

“Right,” Sano nodded sharply and headed out of the room. 

As he started to leave, he almost collided with two police officers, one of whom was just raising her hand to knock. 

“I’m sorry; is this where Ms Kaoru Kamiya is?” she asked. 

“Yes?” Kaoru said. “May I help you?”

“Ah, good; Ms Kamiya, I’m Officer Kirihara; this is Officer Matsumoto. We would like to talk with you about what happened this evening, if that’s alright.” 

“Can’t this wait?” Misao demanded. 

“It’s best if we get a preliminary statement immediately, Miss,” the other officer said as he came into the room. “Time is crucial in any investigation.” 

“It’s ok, Misao; I don’t mind.” 

The police sat down on the sofa Sano had just left, and Officer Matsumoto pulled out a notepad and pen as Kaoru sat down across from them. Sano leaned against the wall, all thoughts of waiting for Yahiko gone in the face of getting information about who he needed to go pound into the pavement. Kenshin stood behind her chair, ready to support her or glare at the police, depending.

“Now, Ms Kamiya,” Officer Kirihara said, “Can you, in your own words, tell us about the events of last night?” 

Kaoru swallowed. Looking at her pale face, Kenshin resisted the temptation to point out that discovering “the events of last night” was actually supposed to be the police’s job.Taking a deep breath, she said, “I was at the Halloween party at the club from… oh, mid-afternoon onwards, helping with set-up. Then there was the actual party. That went until midnight, and then I helped with clean-up for a bit… um… half an hour? Maybe an hour? Katsu and Misao told me to go home, because I wanted to be sure to show D-dad my costume and… and…” 

Taking a deep breath, and reminding herself that this was necessary, this was to help them catch whoever hurt her family, Kaoru continued. 

“I drove back to the dojo from the club; there wasn’t much traffic… it was late. I wasn’t really looking at the building; I was thinking about… um… I was thinking about telling Dad about the party, and everything that had happened, and getting stuffed into that dress, and Sano proposing… and… everything. I thought Dad must be asleep already; the house was dark. Then I looked over and saw that the door to the hall was broken. I assumed that it must be teenagers again; they’ve been known to do stuff like that in the past. I think they watch too many ninja films with people flying through shoji doors…. Um… Anyway, the lights were broken; that seemed odd.” 

Kaoru hesitated. She wasn’t sure if it was wise to start talking about how the courtyard had felt _wrong_ to her. Halloween or not, she doubted that bringing up the idea of demons to the police was going to be at all helpful. 

“I started to really notice that something was wrong when I got close enough to see the damage more clearly… the wood was all splintered… I… there weren’t any lights. And then when I went inside, Dad was just laying there, and there was blood, and I tried to wake him up, but he wouldn’t wake up, and I ran for the phone and called the ambulance and then stayed with him until they got there and then rode with him to the hospital.” 

Kenshin’s hand on her shoulder helped to steady her. Kaoru took several deep, focusing breaths, and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. 

Officer Kirihara said, “These teenagers you’ve had problems with; have they been a regular issue, or just on Halloween?” 

“There isn’t… I mean, it’s not like there’s a particular group of kids. Last year, there were a bunch of them at a party or something, and they thought it would be funny to play a prank. Dad caught them, and he made them help repair everything. And take lessons.” 

The other officer raised his eyebrow. “So… they committed a crime, and in return your father gave them free fighting lessons?” 

Lifting her chin, Kaoru glared at him. “The Kamiya Kasshin style believes in protecting life. We believe that people have potential, and that proper training can help them to find balance and release that potential. My father felt it would be more useful to give those kids a focus that didn’t involve petty vandalism, one that taught them to respect themselves and showed them that they could accomplish something. It might interest you to know that three of them are going to be participating in the regional kendo tournaments this year.” 

Kaoru’s tone and expression made the man in front of her raise a conciliatory hand. “I’m not saying that it was the same group; but, you know, what about some of their friends? Somebody who didn’t like that your father was getting kids off the street, you know?” 

Misao chimed in, “But if it was gangs, wouldn’t they have just shot… um… err.. sorry; never mind…” 

“It could have been meant as a warning,” Officer Matsumoto said. “If they meant to vandalize the hall, in addition to whatever other Halloween pranks they had planned, they might have decided against bringing guns in case they were pulled over at any point.” 

“And they could have just grabbed the blade they used in the attack on site!” Officer Kirihara finished. 

“Blade?” Kenshin asked, raising one eyebrow. 

Consulting her notes, Officer Kirihara said, “According to the doctor, several of your father’s injuries were cuts which were consistent with the use of a very sharp blade. If his attackers picked up a sword when, say, he discovered them…” 

“Impossible,” Kaoru cut in, “We teach kendo.” Seeing their incomprehension, she clarified, “We don’t use live steel; we don’t have anything like that in the training hall.” 

“What about historical swords?” Kenshin asked softly. “Would there have been anything like that available?” 

“Not in the dojo,” Kaoru repeated. “We have some family swords, but they’re all in the house.” 

‘ _And occasionally covered in ofuda and stuffed under the bed, but never mind…’_

“Yeah,” Sano chimed in, “Don’t want the students getting overly excited and deciding to play samurai or something.” 

Both police officers raised an eyebrow. 

“Have you had difficulties with students attempting to ‘play samurai’ before, Ms Kamiya?” 

Gritting her teeth and reminding herself that the officer was just doing her job, and that beating Sano over the head would not help prove that kendo helped teach control and emotional balance, Kaoru said, “You think the attackers were some of our students?” 

“It does seem like it’s a good…” 

“You’re wrong! None of our students would have done that! That’s not what our style teaches!” 

Before Kaoru could say anything else—or before the police could say anything which would lead to their receiving a personal demonstration of how effective Kamiya Kasshin could be without need for a blade--, Kenshin asked, “What about the other injuries?” 

The second officer consulted his notepad, and said, “They’re consistent with a fight. We’ll have a team out to check the scene tomorrow morning, see if we can find any weapons nearby, any DNA, anything like that. Meanwhile, we’ll wait for your father to wake up and see what he can tell us about who attacked him.”

Kaoru opened her mouth, then closed it, recognizing the futility of saying anything else.

It wasn’t surprising, really, that the police would see a student prank gone wrong, or some kind of gang retribution, or whatever it was that they were thinking. She supposed she should be grateful that they hadn’t started asking pointed questions about where her brother was, or if he had any suspicious friends, or if her father had a cashbox in the office. 

There were a lot of things that she wanted to say, but since most of them didn’t involve the police, she simply smiled at them, assured them that she would inform them if she remembered anything else, shook their hands, and thanked them for their prompt attention. 

After they left, Megumi said, “Those _idiots_. I can’t believe that they would suggest that ….” 

Her voice trailed off and her eyes narrowed. “And as for those opinions about his injuries, I think I need to go have a _word_ with the doctor.” 

Sano, no stranger to Megumi in this mood, tentatively said, “Umm… do you want me to go with you?” 

“I can handle one idiot surgeon, Sano. You go wait for Yahiko downstairs.” 

“Right. Going. Back soon.” 

Misao jumped up and said, “I’ll go with you; I’m gonna grab something out of the vending machine.” 

Before Kaoru could think of anything to say, the three of them had headed out the door. 

“Misao hates hospitals….” Kaoru said faintly. “Her folks died in an accident when she was little, and she ended up wandering around alone for hours, because nobody was keeping track of her.” 

Kenshin knelt in front of her, still moving as if he was afraid to startle her. “It will be ok, Kaoru. This isn’t like that.” 

“Then what is it like?” she asked, her eyes meeting his. “You and I both know that this wasn’t some stupid teenage prank, Kenshin. What if… what if they were looking for…” 

Kenshin embraced her, cutting off her words. “I promise you; I _swear_ to you, on my honor and my own blade, that this was not because you hid my sword, or because of anything else that you did. Nor was it the same thing that attacked your brother. Your father was never involved in this, and anybody who acted otherwise will answer to me.” 

“Not until after I’m done with them,” she said simply, her words muffled against his shoulder.

It was exactly what he expected her to say, and it made him smile, in spite of everything else. Before he could respond, the door burst open and Yahiko ran in, his face pale, his expression that of a boy who had already lost one parent far too young. 

He released Kaoru so that she could go hug her brother, reassuring him that their father was going to be fine, that the doctors had said it would take time for him to heal, but that he was going to be alright. 

Yahiko made a sound that was suspiciously like a sniffle before he pulled away and demanded, “What happened? Why would anybody do this?” 

“They don’t know who did it yet, but the police are trying to figure it out. And… um… so is Kenshin. In case it’s not really something for the police.” 

It took several seconds for this to sink in, but when it did, Yahiko looked from his sister to the red-head leaning casually against the wall and said, “Oh… you mean… this was one of _those_ things? A demon thing?” 

“Possibly,” Kenshin said. “The police seem determined to just label it as gang related; it wouldn’t surprise me if they decide to throw in drug use just to round things out.” 

Yahiko snorted. “Yeah, right. Like Dad would get beat so easily.” 

For some reason, the thought that it had been demons or something supernatural that had gotten the better of his father seemed to go a long way towards cheering Yahiko up. From the way Kaoru rolled her eyes at her little brother, Kenshin could tell that being with him was doing good things for her state of mind as well. 

“So, do you know what it was yet?” Yahiko asked, turning to Kenshin. 

“Yahiko, he just got here! He hasn’t had a chance to go investigate at the dojo yet!... you haven’t had a chance to go investigate at the dojo yet, have you?” Kaoru demanded, also turning to face Kenshin. 

“No, I haven’t been there yet.” 

There was no need to mention that Aoshi was probably going over everything there with a fine-toothed comb and a peeved attitude. 

“But when we find out what it could have been, we’ll let you know.” Before the younger boy could ask the question behind his eyes, Kenshin reassured him, “It wasn’t what attacked you at the park.” 

“Oh, great, still more things that go bump in the night,” Kaoru muttered under her breath. 

The identical expressions on the siblings’ faces had him almost smiling, but before they could ask more questions, the door opened and Megumi, Sano, and Misao came back in. Megumi’s expression of satisfaction indicated that she’d not only managed to corner the “idiot surgeon,” but had made sure to scare the stupidity right out of him. Misao appeared to have purchased half the contents of the vending machine, and Sano had cheerfully stolen several bags of indeterminate fried potato products. 

“You want anything, Yahiko?” Misao asked. 

“No… no more chocolate…” Yahiko said, looking faintly green. 

“I agree; you should try to get some sleep. I got you a room.” Megumi’s satisfied grin said more than words could have about the strings she’d pulled to get Kaoru and Yahiko into an actual room at the hospital. “They’ll let you know when there’s more news.” 

With that, Megumi left the lounge, heading down the hall towards whatever room she’d scared the other doctors into leaving empty for her cousins, clearly expecting everybody to follow her.

And, after a few seconds of looking at each other, everybody did just that. 

* * *

Kenshin carefully pulled the blanket up over Kaoru’s sleeping form. Yahiko had pulled the curtains around his bed, curled up, and fallen asleep almost immediately, worn out after a long evening and trusting everybody else to wake him up if anything important happened. After both subtle hints and more direct remarks had failed, Megumi finally shooed everybody else out of the room, shoved her other cousin at the second bed and threatened to stick her with needles full of tranquilizers if she didn’t get some sleep.

He supposed that it was possible that Megumi had meant to include him when she

told everybody else to get out and let Kaoru sleep, but he had avoided any discussion of it by slipping into the shadows and then stepping back out once the room was clear and Kaoru’s breathing had fallen into the even patterns of sleep. 

He wasn’t sure how long he’d been watching her when he heard the faint ding noise of the elevator door from outside the room, but didn’t bother to turn around. When the noise was repeated, somewhat louder, he sighed. Casting one last look at Kaoru’s sleeping form and pulling the curtains around her bed, Kenshin walked out to the elevator and pushed the “down” button.

“It’s about time, idiot,” a deep booming voice said from inside. Gritting his teeth, Kenshin stepped in. As he looked around, he raised an eyebrow. Unless municipal hospitals had conducted a cost survey and determined that richly-stained mahogany siding and soft carpeting were conducive to helping patients get over their illness, it looked like his Master hadn’t been able to resist showing off. 

The space which he found himself in looked like a small study. He wasn’t sure if the fire crackling in the marble fireplace was real in any recognizable sense, but, considering the sunlight streaming in through the neo-Gothic windows, he decided the fire wasn’t worth quibbling over. 

All in all, he was just grateful that his Master had changed out of the extravagant costume from earlier. Not that the cape was less flamboyant, but at least it usually sparkled less. 

From his position in one of the dark leather club chairs by the fire, Seijouro Hiko swirled the clear liquid in his cup before taking a very precise sip. Looking at his apprentice, he raised an eyebrow and said, “Well?”

“The police have convinced themselves it was some kind of gang incident. I doubt they’re going to look much beyond that. Kaoru’s… Mr. Kamiya’s injuries are serious, but not fatal; the training hall can be repaired; there weren’t any other attacks. Also, there has been at least one other incident involving teenagers and the dojo at Halloween.” 

“And what is your opinion?” 

“It seems…. rather unlikely that a group of half-trained teens could defeat a full-fledged Master of his own family’s style.” 

“At least you’re not completely hopeless. How is the girl taking it?” 

Tightening his fists, Kenshin ground out, “She found her father in their dojo, in a pool of blood, wounded, unconscious… he’s in a coma, and even once he’s awake he’s going to need months of physical therapy… how do you think she’s taking it?”

It was only with great effort that Kenshin was able to refrain from lashing out at something. The thought of Kaoru coming home to find her father beaten and bleeding was bad enough; even worse was the way his imagination insisted on painting scenarios of what could have happened to her if she’d arrived at the dojo just a little earlier. 

Hiko’s tone was exasperated. “Aoshi set up wards. Saitoh was watching her at school. You were watching her at home. You were patrolling another section of the city, dealing with a very legitimate and known threat. Stop blaming yourself for something you couldn’t have forseen happening”

Before Kenshin could say anything more, there was a whisper of shadow in one corner of the room and Aoshi stepped into the circle of firelight.

Without preamble, he stated, “Definitely supernatural; not any of the players we’re familiar with; some oddities in the energy residue which preclude immediate identification. Hannya is keeping watch. I have several leads to investigate, but nothing definite.” 

Hiko looked thoughtful. “If this was meant as some kind of message, they did a very poor job of communicating it. It would have made more sense for them to attack the Kamiya girl directly. Put that down, you idiot, before you break it.” 

Kenshin looked down in surprise to find himself holding something brass and abstract-looking from the table. Slightly abashed, he put it down and attempted to join the discussion. “I told Kaoru that it wasn’t because of anything she had done.”

Aoshi nodded his agreement. “There was no attempt to attack the house, and no way that anybody could have known Kaoru was going to be visiting the dojo at that particular time. Himura, have you asked her about reasons her father might have been a target?” 

“I didn’t want to raise the subject so soon after the police tried to paint Mr. Kamiya as somebody dumb enough to teach teenaged delinquents how to beat him up.” 

Raising one eyebrow, the tall ninja said, “Yes… I can see where that would be unwise. It would be a good idea to ask, nonetheless. Hannya made some notes based on his observations at the dojo and in the hospital.” 

Aoshi handed a small notebook to Kenshin, who leafed through it. At one point, he raised an eyebrow and remarked, “Left-handed? That’s unusual.” 

“Good; something unusual is something easier to track,” Hiko commented. His tone implied that his two subordinates needed all the help they could get when it came to tracking. Both Kenshin and Aoshi ignored it with an expression born of long practice. 

With an air of decisiveness, Hiko stood up and said, “Shinomori, finish your investigation of the dojo and then return to what you were doing. Set whatever wards you need to prevent anybody from finishing the job. Report back to me if you discover anything of interest in either area.” 

Nodding in acknowledgment, Aoshi stepped back into the shadows. Once he was gone, Hiko took a drink before he turned to Kenshin and said, “I realize that it’s going to be completely useless to tell you to go back to our primary investigation before this issue is resolved. Therefore, you have permission to focus on protecting the Kamiya family. Saitoh is almost as bad as you are, by the way. He’s been reporting in every half-hour, ostensibly to update me on how his patrol is going, and casually asking if there is any new information about the dojo attack.” 

“Did you explain to him that this hunt is _mine_?” 

“If Saitoh is faster than you are in tracking down the culprit, I don’t think any explanations by me will make the least bit of difference.” 

Kenshin glared, but Hiko merely took another drink. While he never directly encouraged competition among those who worked for him, he found it made them all much more enthusiastic if they knew that their target could get stolen out from under their noses. 

And anything that made _his_ job easier was not to be disparaged. 

In this case, however, he suspected that Saitoh would be disappointed. Not only was his idiot apprentice more than usually worked up about this, the Kamiya girl herself was full of surprises. 

“If there’s nothing else, _Master_ ,” Kenshin said, “I will return to the hospital and finish reading Hannya’s report before I talk with Kaoru tomorrow.” 

“An excellent course of action, and one which will definitely be more useful than standing around trying to glare a hole in my carpet. Shinomori or I will be in touch with any additional information. If you discover anything of importance, report it in the usual manner. And try not to do anything too idiotic on your own. This time.” 

Hiko managed not to smile at the way Kenshin’s jaw clenched before he bowed and turned to leave. 

Really, sometimes it was just too easy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Chapter: Investigations, interrogations, and the serious possibility that putting the Kamiya siblings together in one apartment will result in culinary disasters sufficient to wipe out a small country.
> 
> In this chapter, I don’t own: Officers Kirihara (from "Darker than Black") and Matsumoto (from "Detective Conan") (who are rather AU here).


	35. Sunrise to Sunset

Yahiko blinked slowly awake as the alarm radio came on, confused by his surroundings. The pale walls didn’t show any sign of his poster collection; the floor of the room was actually visible….

_“Oh… right. I’m staying at Kaoru’s apartment, because… because Dad…”_

He tightened his jaw as he sat up. First day back at school, for him and his sister; he wasn’t about to break down. He had a responsibility as an Assistant Master of the Kamiya Kasshin School, darn it!

How was he supposed to be ready to help Sis take out the bad guys if he stayed hiding under the covers all day?

Loud clattering noises and occasional yelps from the kitchen told him that Kaoru was out fixing breakfast, so he headed to the shower. By the time he finished a rudimentary scrubbing and got dressed in clothes that were only slightly damp from being run quickly through the laundry the night before, the table held a plate full of toast, another plate with bacon, several boxes of cereal, butter, jam, orange juice, milk, and some fruit.

There was also a faintly smoking frying pan in the sink, with something that looked like it might have been intended to be scrambled eggs. Although he’d never heard of scrambled eggs turning that particular color before.

Some people, familiar with his sister’s cooking, might have hesitated to try the bacon. Yahiko, however, told himself firmly that Assistant Masters did NOT shrink from danger… and besides, he was pretty sure he’d done worse the last time he’d been on breakfast duty.

_“Dad said that the bright side was, we wouldn’t have to buy replacement boards for the dojo for another month. I can’t believe he took pictures to show Ugly, that was SO unfair of…”_

Clenching his fist on his fork, Yahiko took another deep, cleansing breath.

“Yahiko? Is, um, the bacon okay? I actually meant to get breakfast sausage, but it was kind of late last night when I went to the grocery store, and when I got home, there was bacon in the shopping bag.”

“It’s fine. Thanks. I mean, you didn’t have to do anything fancy.”

Kaoru flushed slightly. “It’s not really fancy; I mean, toast, eggs, bacon… minus the eggs; sorry. I thought about making pancakes…” At her brother’s expression, she held up her hands, “I didn’t actually do it! Hence the toast! Which is a perfectly normal… um... bread of some kind.”

Slathering jam on his slice, Yahiko started eating the toast, and promptly grimaced

“Rye bread… strawberry jam… bad idea….,” he managed, grabbing the orange juice to wash everything down.

“Gah! Sorry! Um… here, this just has butter on it….”

While Yahiko focused on toast and re-establishing his equanimity, Kaoru drank her coffee, and devoured her own toast and bacon while frowning at a note she was reading.

“So, um, Yahiko?” she asked, sounding slightly nervous as she set her mug down.

“What?” he asked, trying not to sound nervous himself.

Kaoru bit her lip. “Dr. Gensai called. He wanted… that is, he said that you’re welcome to go stay with him and Ayame and Suzume. If you were interested.”

“What! But, Kaoru, how are we supposed to… I mean, what about investigating what happened to Dad?”

“Okay, first of all, any investigating is going to be done very carefully and, as annoying as it might be, preferably with Kenshin around for back-up—I know, I know,” she held up a hand to prevent him from saying anything, “but, frankly, after everything that’s been going on…”

“Like you getting kidnapped by a demon, and me getting attacked in the park—also by a demon?”

“Yeah. I’m just saying…and I can’t believe I’m saying this….” Kaoru sighed. “Fact: we seem to be having some supernatural issues around here which are definitely _not_ friendly. Fact: something out there was strong enough to take down _Dad_ , and it seems to have been something—or _somethings_ \-- that uses a blade.”

“It’s a pretty good bet that whatever took down Dad was a demon, like Kenshin said?”

“I wouldn’t bet against it, that’s for sure,” Kaoru agreed. “Especially since he took off from the hospital and just left a note saying he’s looking into things and will be in touch. In any case, I don’t think it’s a good idea to go charging around town at night with our bokkens, all fired up and ready to rumble. Adjoining recovery rooms is not how we want to spend more time with Dad.”

“And if we take Kenshin along, he can help out if it is a demon!” Yahiko finished cheerfully, helping himself to more toast.

Kaoru opened her mouth, then closed it again. She wasn’t sure Kenshin would agree with being labeled the sidekick, but she knew for sure that neither she nor Yahiko was going to let somebody else have first shot at whoever had hurt their father.

“Anyway, Yahiko—we can’t just go rushing off; we’re going to need to coordinate, and plan, _and_ make sure that we keep up with school. Well, school for you; work for me. Which is also school, but you know what I mean. My point is, you not staying here isn’t going to mean we can’t work on tracking down whoever did this. Dr. Gensai’s house is a different part of town, but it’s not really that much farther away from school. He can even drive you to school when he’s dropping off Ayame and Suzume on his way to the clinic. Plus, you’d have your own room, with a desk and everything.”

Yahiko looked skeptical. He could clearly see Kaoru’s point—and he knew that having both of them trying to share a one-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment with limited workspace wasn’t great, but it felt like abandoning his responsibilities to just go stay in a nice house with a large yard and, he had to admit, somebody who could cook way better than his sister.

Before he could figure out what to say, Kaoru pressed on. “More importantly,” she said quietly, “you need to take over the beginning classes, and Jin-sensei’s dojo is only five minutes from Dr. Gensai’s house.”

“I have to what?” Yahiko exclaimed, blinking in shock.

“You’re an Assistant Master, Yahiko—you’ve taught the classes before, on your own. What are we supposed to do, hang up a “closed” sign and tell all of our students, “Sorry; just forget about kendo for now; we’ll call you when we’ve gotten our act together”? We are not letting this break our school! We owe it to… to Dad, and to grandpa, and to everybody who believes in the Kamiya Kasshin style! But until the dojo is fixed, we need to hold classes someplace else. Jin-sensei volunteered space when he’s not teaching classes, and Ran-sensei said she’d do the same—but working around their schedules gives us a limited amount of time, plus they’re on opposite sides of town. The best plan is to have one of us offer classes at one dojo, and one offer classes at the other. I can drive, but you really need to be within walking or biking distance.”

“Okay,” he said, swallowing. “You’re right; we need to keep the classes going. That’s…. even more important than… I mean, it’s what Dad would want us to do.”

“It’s going to be the first thing he asks about when he wakes up And the second thing is going to be whether we took advantage of the chance to have our students run practice bouts with the folks from the other dojos, so be thinking about that. Can’t miss an opportunity to show off the power of Kamiya Kasshin, right?”

Somehow, thinking about it that way made Yahiko feel a lot better. At least until Kaoru asked, “You up for working out a schedule with Jin-sensei tomorrow? Dr. Gensai is coming over this afternoon to help out and make sure you’re okay with staying with them, but the sooner you meet with Jin-sensei, the faster we can let everybody in the beginning classes know what’s going on.”

“Err… sure? I mean, Yutaro and I were going to meet and keep working on our museum project after school, but we can do that tomorrow. I bet I can get him to give me a ride over to the dojo. He can check out the antique sword collection—hey, I bet he can see if there’s anything we can use for our project; maybe we can even interview Jin-sensei about it!”

“Great! By the way, we’ve got about five minutes before we have to head out,”

“Wait, what?” he demanded, “What do you mean, five minutes? School doesn’t start for another hour!”

“And those of us who work there have to get there before those of you who are there for the acquisition of knowledge,” Kaoru replied sweetly, standing up to put her dishes into the sink. “Think of it this way—you’ll be there early enough that nobody will be able to see you getting a ride from a teacher!”

Muttering under his breath, Yahiko put his dishes into the sink and dashed back into the bedroom to get his coat and books. Things were slightly improved by Kaoru handing him money for lunch when he came back into the kitchen. Given Kaoru’s distracted shopping the night before, he wasn’t entirely sure what else might be in the fridge.

* * *

The ride to school was uneventful. Fortunately for both of them, the attack on their father had merited a brief mention the morning after it had happened, but wasn’t taking up a lot of space on the airwaves a mere day later.

_“I guess that’s one benefit of everybody calling it a ‘Halloween prank,’_ ” Yahiko thought to himself, “ _nobody cares now that Halloween’s over and nothing else has happened. And if this is really one of Kenshin’s sort of problem, I bet it’s going to be a lot easier for him to investigate if there aren’t cameras and reporters all over! Hey, I wonder….”_

As the car idled at a red light, Yahiko turned to Kaoru and said, “Hey, sis? Do you think Kenshin’s covering up what happened to Dad? I mean, not, ‘covering it up,’” he corrected hastily at her expression, “but, you know, making reporters and the police and stuff not ask questions? So that he can hunt down the bad guys himself?”

“Um…” Kaoru blinked. “I’m not sure Kenshin and his… well, whoever he’s working with…. Anyway, I’m not sure they need to, in this case. I mean, Dad’s important to us, and the dojo is important to our family, but it’s not exactly like Dad was, I don’t know, an ambassador, or foreign royalty, or something like that.”

“What if he was _secret_ foreign royalty? Maybe somebody didn’t want him to be able to return to take his crown back, and…”

“First of all, any scenario where _you_ end up as a prince is automatically ridiculous. Second, if Dad was secretly foreign royalty, the reporters and police and whoever wouldn’t know about it either.”

As the car continued along the street, Yahiko muttered under his breath, “Yeah, like you’d be so great at being a princess.” 

Pulling into a space in the teacher’s parking lot, Kaoru turned off the car and took a deep breath.

“You okay? I mean, it would be fine if you needed to take another day.”

Yahiko snorted. “Right. I get to take another day off, and you have to go back to work in the exact same building? Like Dad would ever let us live that down.”

Okay, maybe his grin was a little watery on the last sentence. But Kaoru grinned back and said, “Very good point, brat. ‘Cause you know he’s going to demand a full report when he… gahh!”

“What? What? Gahh!”

Even on a normal school day, the sight of Mr. Fujita striding purposefully towards the car, wreathed in far more smoke than seemed possible from a mere cigarette, would have been enough to make either Kamiya sibling jump—or possibly throw the car into reverse and back screeching out of the parking lot.

“That’s…. odd…” Kaoru managed, removing her hand from the car keys. “I mean, um, I’m sure there’s no need for _you_ to worry, Yahiko; I’m sure I probably forgot to ….um…. well, I’m clearly still forgetting it, but Mr. Fujita is bound to remind me, so, no need to worry.”

“Riiiiiight.”

With identical expressions, the siblings got out of the car and turned to face the science teacher. He looked at them both, and took a long drag on his cigarette, exhaling slowly before saying, “Yahiko, Ms Kamiya —I trust that you are both ready to return to school?”

They nodded. Yahiko opened his mouth to repeat what he’d told his sister in the car, but closed it again. He wasn’t sure Mr. Fujita would know he was joking about having to give a full report. Well, mostly joking, anyway.

“Excellent. Yahiko, the principal wanted to meet with you before school….”

“Wait, what? Why?”

Mr. Fujita snorted. “I suspect that he wants to express support and understanding, in the form of pop-psychology platitudes and attempts to get you to open up about your feelings.”

Yahiko gulped, looking faintly traumatized. “Um… Sis? Err.. Kaoru….erm… Ms Kamiya… best student teacher ever…. I don’t suppose you need help cleaning erasers? Carrying textbooks? Feeding the experimental plankton?”

“Sorry; you’re going to have to go through with it,” she said, putting a hand on his shoulder. “Just remember: It’s either before class or after school, if you walk slowly you’ll end up with less than ten minutes in the actual office, and if you don’t carry out this dangerous mission, the whole entire student body will probably be forced to attend one of those da…. _darn_ motivational assemblies about pulling together and letting our bright colors shine together in a splendid tapestry of happiness.”

“And then they’ll happily kill me on the football field?”

“And then they’ll happily kill you on the football field,” Kaoru agreed.

“Fiiiine,” he ground out, shoulders slumping. “See you in class, Si… Ka…Ms Kamiya.” With that, he took off across the parking lot. He was halfway down the row of cars before he remembered that he was supposed to be walking slowly and ground to a halt before continuing sedately. 

Kaoru grinned after him. Then, remembering who was next to her, she took a deep, calming breath and turned to face her supervisor.

“What’s on the schedule for today?” she asked, still faintly curious as to why Mr. Fujita had come all the way out to the faculty parking lot rather than lurking in the doorway, cigarette in hand. “Do we need to finish scheduling the presentations, or is that next week?”

Turning in a manner which clearly indicated that she should keep pace with him as he walked back towards the school, he said, “There’s a sign-up sheet in the back of the classroom. Anybody who fails to select a spot by the end of the week will be assigned one.”

“Does that mean they’ll have to go first, or they’ll have to wait until right before Christmas vacation?” Kaoru wondered aloud. Somehow, from the expression on Mr. Fujita’s face, she suspected that it would be whichever option would be most distressing to the student in question.

Before they reached the doorway, he remarked off-handedly, “Mr. Murray also wanted to meet with you, Ms Kamiya, to make sure that you are handling the situation well.” Before Kaoru could do more than freeze, eyes wide, he continued, “I assured him that I was more than capable of speaking to you about it.”

His tone implied that he didn’t want to hear about her “feelings” any more than she wanted to talk about them—that, having asked her if she was ready to return, nothing more needed to be said.

“If, however,” he continued, “you find that you need to take time off, to be at the hospital… or to handle any other relevant issues personally, I would appreciate being kept informed.”

_“In other words,”_ Kaoru thought, _“claiming to be home sick with a cold isn’t going to work for me any more than it would for the students. Got it…. Wait, what does he mean ‘handle any other relevant issues personally’?”_

She stopped and blinked at her supervisor as he opened the door. She opened her mouth to ask, decided that there wasn’t really a good way to formulate the question—at least not when heading into the hallway, where some of the athletes who had early-morning practice were wandering towards their lockers, and teachers were either heading to the lounge for coffee or heading back to the classroom after caffeinating.

But, all morning, as she helped prep microscope slides and make sure nothing caught on fire, in the back of her mind, Kaoru kept mentally replaying how Kenshin and Mr. Fujita had circled each other like two predators about to lunge at each other, claws out….

* * *

“Oi! Come on out of there! Look, nothing bad is going go happen, just… ow! Hey!”

“You are completely hopeless, you know that?”

Megumi’s amused voice startled Sano so badly that he almost cracked his head on the edge of his coffee table as he jerked up towards where her voice was coming from.

He gave her a sheepish expression as he stood up, and said, “It’s not my fault! I think the damn thing’s gotten stuck back there or something!”

She rolled her eyes and pulled a small pouch out from her bag, shaking it so that it rattled. With an inquiring “mmmrrrrrooowww?,” Shroedinger emerged from under Sano’s sofa, heading straight for the person with the cat treats. The pudgy feline rubbed up against Megumi’s ankle’s affectionately, making purring noises as she handed him a treat. Sano tried not to look like he was pouting over the fact that he’d spent a half-hour trying to lure the Kamiyas’ pet out from behind the furniture with no success, while his fiancée got results in less than thirty seconds.

“Thanks, Meg. You really have a way with…”

“I am not taking the cat with me, Sano.”

This time, the pout was much harder to hide. Megumi shook her head. “No way. For starters, my hospital shifts are crazy—not to mention the fact that my building doesn’t allow pets any more than Kaoru’s does. Second, you’re the one who volunteered—you and Katsu went and fetched the cat from the dojo.” Before Sano could say anything, she held up her hand. “Now, I will happily assist you in taking care of Schroedinger in _your_ apartment, as long as it is understood that you will not foist all cat-care duties off on me.”

“I’m just worried that he’ll get lonely while I’m off at the bar.”

“You could take him with you, you know. Keep him in the office? Maybe get Katsu to share cat-sitting duties with you?”

“He had pet-sitting duties last time, with Angel-Marie. Not sure it’s fair to ask him….”

“Sano, this is not going to be just a weekend thing; you know that, right? Kaoru’s dad…” Megumi sighed. “Sano, even after he wakes up—and that could take a while; they’re monitoring him very closely, and they may decide to keep him under artificially if they think it will be medically useful—he’s going to be in the hospital for a while. After that, I don’t know. Physical therapy, but….Anyway, short version, you should plan on having that cat around for a while.”

Sano looked down at Schroedinger. Having gotten treats, the cat had strolled over to Sano’s favorite recliner and proceeded to curl up in a large, self-satisfied ball of fluff, snoring gently and being completely unconcerned with whether somebody might want that chair to sit in while catching up on some very important sporting events.

“Well,” Sano said after a pause, “I guess having a part-time bar cat could work.”

* * *

Kenshin frowned, running his fingers carefully along the dojo’s splintered doorframe in the harsh noon light. His conversation with Hannya during his first visit to the dojo in the dark of night had resulted in an entire day running around the city-- not entirely unproductive, he admitted. So far, he’d been able to rule out several potential candidates, narrowing the field considerably. Of course, just because it hadn’t been unproductive didn’t mean he hadn’t handed everything off to Aoshi with alacrity and headed back to the dojo to investigate in the daylight.

The damage to the building indicated that something had broken through the doors at a fairly rapid speed—probably as the first move in the attack.

_‘No…. wait… whoever—or whatever—did this, they would have broken the lamps first. No light out in the courtyard; reduce the visibility…. Then you break something big, something that makes a lot of noise.’_

He could picture Kaoru’s father, sitting in the house, waiting for trick-or-treaters…. or possibly having handed out the last of the candy, getting ready to turn in. The noise of the door breaking would have brought him out, weapon in hand, ready to administer a well-deserved thrashing to Halloween pranksters.

_‘No light… broken door… suspicious quiet. No, wait. Quiet would have been too suspicious; he would have been expecting an ambush if it was quiet.’_

Walking around the training hall, he caught sight of the weapons rack, broken and surrounded by pieces of its former contents. 

_‘Of course…. How do you get a kendo master to walk into an ambush? Make it sound like it’s just vandals, wrecking the place—laughing it up, breaking anything they can get their hands on. Lacking any respect for what they’re destroying. That’s just asking for an expert to come in and demonstrate exactly why it’s a bad idea to attack a master of the art on their own turf.’_

Kenshin could picture that scene, too--- Kaoru’s father, silhouetted in the doorway, making a bold declaration, ready to take on whoever was destroying his family’s legacy.

_‘He comes in…. it wouldn’t have taken him long to realize it was a trap… but… I think the trap was in front of him. Getting him into the dojo, so that whoever was going to attack him could come in behind him…’_

He crouched down, gently touching the darkly-stained boards. The police might think that what had happened was a gang attack, violent teenagers jumping on an older man who was unable to fight them off… but Kamiya’s injuries told a different story to somebody who knew martial arts.

_‘If this had been a group attack, there would have either been no blades involved, or more than one. You can’t have multiple people beating somebody up with their fists while one person is swinging a sword around. Well, I suppose you could, but it would be incredibly stupid—and there’s no way that only the intended victim would end up with cuts. Aoshi would have been collecting people’s fingers off the floor if that had happened.’_

_‘A one-on-one fight, bokken versus live steel, nobody else getting involved… This wasn’t an attack; it was a duel. And considering the injuries, it went on for a while—whoever was involved wanted Kamiya to suffer, and to die slowly while bleeding on the floor of his own training hall. That’s personal. That means a grudge—and that means a history.’_

Kenshin smiled grimly to himself as he stood up and walked back out of the training hall. Histories could be tracked—and if somebody had been foolish enough to hire or conjure supernatural help to create their little trap, that would make tracking them that much easier. Hannya was talking to his usual sources, which would give them a clear picture of the dojo’s history—and the history of the Kamiya Kasshin school. Aoshi was still tracking the leads he had mentioned, now with Kenshin’s additional information. With any luck, by the evening, they would be able to start the hunt in earnest.

_‘And then, you bastard, we finish this.’_

_‘Let’s see how you like a one-on-one fight with me.’_

* * *

Kaoru considered her plan of attack carefully. She didn’t have any real evidence that Mr. Fujita was…. well, in the same line of work as Kenshin. As far as she could tell, nobody at the school had suffered an unfortunate and pointy fate within the past year or so—although she hadn’t tried looking for anything suspicious, so it was hard to tell for sure. Besides which, if Mr. Fujita was there for work… well, work other than his day job…. then wouldn’t he have left once it was taken care of?

Either way, she couldn’t exactly broach the topic directly. She was going to need to come at the topic sideways, and hope it worked.

After the last bell had rung, and the last students had stumbled out of the classroom, Kaoru steeled herself and went up to Mr. Fujita’s desk, where he was frowning at a batch of pop quizzes.

“Mr. Fujita?,” she asked, “I was wondering… well, I know Yahiko should be asking this, since it’s his project, but… he and Yutaro are working on sword construction and historical swords, mostly because of the big exhibition. Um…. the theft at the museum isn’t going to cause them any problems is, it? I’m not sure they’d finished taking notes.”

Circling several items with a red pen, Mr. Fujita said absent-mindedly, “Unless they were actually working with the Mugenjin directly, Ms Kamiya—which I certainly hope they weren’t, neither of those young idiots has anywhere near the kind of protective amulets they’d need—I don’t see any reason why…”

He trailed off, looking up at her sharply. Kaoru knew her eyes had gone wide, but she couldn’t quite seem to make herself say anything.

_‘Well, that was more information than I had expected to get_ ,’ she thought, slightly stunned.

Mr. Fujita stopped glaring at her and sighed. He pulled a cigarette out from his desk and lit it, inhaling deeply.

“I begin to see, Ms Kamiya, how exactly you keep managing to get yourself into so much trouble. And,” he glowered, “Himura needs to learn to keep his mouth shut. What the hell is the point of covering up a heist if you then go telling everybody about it?”

“Right….” she said, faintly. “Sooo…. I take it that you’re not human, either, then?”

“No.”

“And you, um, work… with… Kenshin?” she said, slightly more tentatively.

He snorted, blowing smoke. “On a regular basis? That moron would drive me mad. Let’s just say we work for the same larger cause, and that that sometimes— _sometimes_ —includes having to put up with each other being in the same location, or combining our efforts.”

“Are you… I mean, is your job here at the school like the jobs that Kenshin does at high schools? I mean, the student body seems reasonably intact, and I haven’t noticed any suspiciously rune-like graffiti around…”

He stood up and walked over to the window, opening it and taking another deep drag on his cigarette before answering.

“Himura is what you might call a trouble-shooter.”

A very bad joke about a job defined as “finding trouble and shooting it” passed through Kaoru’s mind, but she kept her mouth firmly shut and told herself to pay attention.

Mr. Fujita continued, “He gets sent where there seems to be trouble; he follows up on tips from Shinomori or…”

He broke off and gave her a look.

“No, that’s okay, I, err, already knew about Aoshi. Well, the “also being a demon” part about Aoshi, not the “supernatural problems tipline” part.”

Raising an eyebrow and muttering something under his breath that sounded like, “Of course you do….” before another deep inhalation from his cigarette and an exhaled plume of smoke, he said, “Himura’s assignments are meant to be temporary, focused on investigating and solving specific problems. Once he’s taken care of whatever brought him to that location, he goes on to the next problem. However, changing location every six months or so is no way to raise a family, so I requested a more permanent position.”

Kaoru was barely able to keep her mouth from dropping open in shock.

_‘Raise a family? Wait, Mr. Fujita has a family? As in, a wife and children? She must be a candidate for sainthood….’_

“Fortunately for me, this city has seen several significant problems in the past decade or so. Your school, of course—and that idiot Sagara’s school—plus there was that incident with the clowns. Clearly, having somebody on site who could patrol and nip any problems in the bud was the logical solution.”

“Wait,” Kaoru asked, “if you’re already here permanently, why did Kenshin need to come back?”

Mr. Fujita raised one eyebrow and gave her a significant look.

“Oh,” she said weakly. “Right. Um. And the problems that you’ve all been dealing with recently, those started happening _after_ Kenshin was already here, but not _because_ he was here? I mean, if it was happening because you were around, it would have happened, well, sooner, right?”

He considered her question carefully, walking back to his desk and extinguishing his cigarette in an ashtray located in his desk’s side drawer. Finally, he said, “Even Himura’s ego isn’t big enough to believe that this was happening entirely because he’s here. But that doesn’t mean that it isn’t happening, to some extent, because of him—and myself, and Shinomori, and…. Well, let’s just say that some events in the past are reverberating in the present. The reason that they’re reverberating here, now, has more to do with that damned sword being here than any of us. Although I strongly suspect that our presence so early in the game was seen as an additional bonus.”

“Are you talking about a sword that is _literally_ damned?” Kaoru demanded. “I mean… hearing strange voices? ‘One sword to slay them all’? Devours your soul and heads to the stars after a long career of causing you to be soppily emotional about the fact that your sword keeps devouring souls?”

“First of all, Ms Kamiya, you are unlikely to encounter the Mugenjin on your own—I expect it’s being very, very well-guarded. Second of all, if you were to encounter it on your own, I trust that you have enough intelligence not to try to breach the protections which would undoubtedly obviously be surrounding it. And if you were encountering it while it was being wielded by its owner….” He trailed off, uncharacteristically unable to finish the sentence.

“It would probably be an encounter of very short duration, and the nature of the sword would no longer be my problem?” she guessed.

“Indeed. But,” he added rapidly, “it would not… that is, to the best of my knowledge, that particular blade has no impact on the human soul. Not the souls of those it slays, at least.”

“Right. Well. Good to know, although I hope it won’t be relevant,” Kaoru said, hoping her voice sounded firmer than she felt it did.

Apparently having nothing else to say on the subject, Mr. Fujita began packing up the quizzes and textbooks. “If that’s all, Ms. Kamiya, I should be getting home. Tokio is picking the boys up from soccer practice, and I promised to deal with the groceries.”

Even though the thought of her boss “dealing with the groceries” caused all sorts of amusing mental images to run through her mind, Kaoru managed to wrench her brain back to her original plan for this conversation.

“Actually, sir, I did have one question. It’s… it’s kind of what I wanted to talk to you about originally.” Steeling her spine, she said, “The attack on my father… do you.... any of you… do you have any new information? Any idea what happened?” At his expression, she hastily added, “I don’t mean Yahiko and I are going to go charging off at the faintest hint of a lead! We know better! It’s just that it’s frustrating not knowing anything, especially when the police are being _idiots_ —not that “supernatural attack” is a logical conclusion for most people, or that it necessarily means that’s what happened in this case, but it seems like a likely possibility, all things considered, and… and..” Kaoru took a deep breath and tried again. “Mr. Fujita, if you have any information about what attacked my father, my brother and I would appreciate knowing about it. We are also happy to help out in any way we can.”

He nodded brusquely. “Thank you Ms Kamiya. However, I don’t believe that there is anything that….” Trailing off, he turned to look at her speculatively.

“There is,” he said slowly, “one possible piece of information which might be useful in helping me…. that is, _us_ … track down the perpetrator. Shinomori’s investigations indicated that the primary attacker, the one who was wielding a blade, was using his left hand. Does that by any chance ring any bells?”

“Left…..” Kaoru blinked. “That’s unusual. I mean, there are a couple of kids on the kendo circuit who are left-handed, but none of them are anywhere close to Dad’s level. Also, they’re not members of our school…. I mean,” she clarified, taking a deep breath and trying to present everything logically, “first of all, we don’t teach live steel; I can’t think of a local dojo that does. The only time I’ve heard about anybody even handling live steel was that time Jin-sensei’s idiot nephew started swinging his great-grandfather’s katana around, and you would not _believe_ the trouble he got in… err… I mean… it’s not that there _aren’t_ swords around; it’s just that they’re family heirlooms—they get kept on stands or in special cases, where nobody can touch them, let alone train with them.”

Mr. Fujita raised one eyebrow.

Kaoru exhaled, not quite a whistle. “You’re thinking somebody _did_ try to use a family heirloom, and got more than they bargained for?”

“It wouldn’t be the first time. Swords have a very long memory—and that’s even if no spirits are attached to them. If someone is suddenly using a blade, and using it well enough to beat a master of his own style….”

“They may not be using skills they got through years of hard work,” Kaoru finished. At his brusque nod, she sat down against one of the front desks and put a hand to her forehead. “I still don’t see Dad being a logical target. We’re not a large dojo; we’re not in a particularly obvious location; I’d expect anybody who was going after dojo masters to go after their own first—and as far as I know, no other dojo masters have been attacked recently. We’re a small community—I would know. Dad would have known. I don’t see anybody going after us first as part of a spree.”

‘It might not be about your father—or your dojo,” Mr. Fujita replied. “As I said, swords have long memories. It could be about one of the swords you have…” He held up a hand to forestall her question. “Not the one you took from that idiot— anything focused on that would go after where it _is_ , not where it had been.”

“That’s good… well, not that I want to see something going after Kenshin,” she amended, ignoring her supervisor’s snort, “but I’m glad Dad didn’t get attacked because I brought something into our house five years ago rather than tossing it into a ravine.”

Looking at his watch, he put on his coat and picked up his bags. “Ms Kamiya,” he said thoughtfully, “would you be amenable to my visiting the dojo tomorrow, after school? I would appreciate the opportunity to examine the swords you have in the house, to determine if something there has a connection to whatever injured your father.”

“That would be fine,” Kaoru answered. “I’m free after school—oh, I might be teaching an advanced class tomorrow night out at Ran-sensei’s dojo, but that won’t be until after dinner.”

“Excellent. Tomorrow after school, then.”

* * *

When Dr. Gensai arrived, granddaughters in tow and several containers of excellent noodles in hand, both Kaoru and Yahiko were just checking the last items off of the packing list. Looking to where Ayame and Suzume where happily coloring across paper placemats, he said, “Now, Kaoru, are you sure you don’t want to just come stay at the house? We could make room.”

“Thank you, Dr. Gensai, but I need to be able to get from school to the dojo in the afternoon in time for lessons.”

“Well, I certainly hope that you’ll make time to come over for dinner when you can-- Ayame and Suzume miss getting to spend time with you now that you’re so busy with work!”

“Of course,” Kaoru said with a smile. “Speaking of the dojo, I should get going-- I need to get some things before it gets dark. Yahiko, anything you need, other than clothes?”

Yahiko looked as if he was going to offer to come with her, but just exhaled and said, “Toothbrush, I guess. Shoes? I don’t know. Whatever.”

“Well, I’ll just pick up what I can find tonight and then we can get more in a couple of days when you get whatever you need for teaching.”

The prospect of teaching entirely on his own at another dojo made Yahiko turn slightly green. Before he could say anything, Dr. Gensai said, “Will you be bringing a bag over tonight, Kaoru?”

“That’s the plan,” she replied, trying to sound upbeat. “I’ll try to get there before Ayame and Suzume go to bed, but just in case I get held up, don’t tell them that, okay?”

“Heavens, no,” the elderly doctor agreed, “I’d never get them to settle down. Luckily, they’ll have their favorite big brother to chase around. That ought to be more than enough excitement for one evening.”

Saying her goodbyes, Kaoru headed back out to the car. She grimaced slightly at the thought of rush hour traffic, but told herself firmly that the sooner she got her errands at the dojo taken care of, the sooner she could get home and start figuring out her next move.

Including how to make sure that a certain red-headed demon didn’t try to keep her or her brother out of the investigative loop. 

* * *

Kaoru unlocked the office door and unexpectedly found herself blinking back the sting of tears as she looked at the mess of papers on her father’s desk. 

_‘Stop that...’_ she told herself fiercely, _‘This is not the time to break down; you just need to call the students and make sure that they know that classes are cancelled this week, let them know that there will be a modified schedule starting next week, and then get Yahiko’s things from his room. You can get upset later. When you have the time.’_

The class lists were actually not terribly difficult to find, organized in the same black binder Kaoru remembered from when she was a little girl. She absently wondered if the binder was one of the things passed down across the generations in the dojo, but quickly forced her mind back to the task at hand. Looking at the office chair, Kaoru swallowed. While it was true that there was a phone in the office, Kaoru couldn’t quite bring herself to sit in her father’s chair, behind his desk. It made it feel... permanent, somehow. Picking up the binder, she headed back to the house and sat down at the kitchen table. 

Working her way through the class lists took longer than she had expected. While it was true that some families had more than one child enrolled in clasess at the Kamiya Dojo, practically every family Kaoru called felt compelled to express their sympathies, to hope that Koshijirou would be well again soon, and to ask if there was anything they could do. For a surprising number, that involved offering to bring casseroles or cold-cuts, and Kaoru wondered if it was because everybody knew that she and Yahiko couldn’t cook, or if it was simple the automatic and traditional response to a family tragedy.

When she was done, Kaoru sighed and rubbed her temples. She went over to the cupboard and got out a glass, then walked across the room to the sink. As she filled her glass, she looked out and tried to admire the burning pinks and golds of the sunset, but found her thoughts returning to the attack on her father. 

_‘Who would do that? Why would anybody go after Dad? Even if it was some kind of possessed sword, I still can’t see the dojo being a target. It makes no sense! What if it was somebody trying to track down who had Kenshin’s sword last? But... if they were tracking the sword, that would have ended up leaving away from where it had been, and back towards my building. I mean, that’s where it is now. I think. So, why not an attack in the parking lot, or my apartment, or at school.... or at least some kind of threatening note made out of cut-up newspaper headlines or a horse’s head in my bed or threatening phone calls or... or... this doesn’t... there’s no… this makes no sense, it makes no sense, it... ’_

It took the sound of her glass rolling across the linoleum for Kaoru to suddenly become aware that she was on the floor of the kitchen, water pooling next to her hand, tears dripping slowly down her cheeks, her breathing ragged. Clenching her fists tightly, she fought for control. Hysterics were not going to help the situation. 

_‘Deep breaths... deep breaths, Kaoru... just like... dammit! Just like Dad taught you. You can do this. He taught you how to do this. You know this. Just breathe.’_

She leaned forward slightly and focused on calming her breathing and her heartbeat, and after several long minutes was able to stand up, albeit somewhat shakily, and go find a cloth to wipe the water up off of the floor with. Luckily, the glass hadn’t broken, so there was no need to sweep. 

Taking several more deep breaths and focusing on what she still had to take care of in the house, Kaoru headed upstairs to her brother’s room, stopping to get two large duffel bags out of the hall closet.

_‘Rushing in where angels fear to tread...’_ she thought with some amusement as she pushed the door open, ignoring the “Toxic Waste” and “Enter at your own risk!” signs Yahiko had plastered the door with. In spite of the warnings, and some amusingly graphic illustrations he’d drawn of what would happen to intruders, the room was fairly neat. 

Well, fairly neat for a teenaged boy.

Since Yahiko tended to leave clean clothes in the laundry basket rather than putting them away in drawers or his closet, Kaoru saved some time by just dumping the contents of the basket into the first duffel bag. Then she began the more difficult task of looking through the closet, in the drawers, and under the bed, turning up more clothes, shoes, and the watch that Yahiko had lost the previous summer. The sight of it made her smile and shake her head, remembering her brother’s all-out search for it, and his final emphatic declaration that it must have been eaten by jellyfish while they were at the beach together.

Once she had the clothes taken care of, she headed to the bathroom to get Yahiko’s things. Since she didn’t know how long he was going to be staying with Dr. Gensai... Kaoru cut that thought off before it could get too depressing. Instead, she decided to raid the linen closet for extra towels and washcloths for her brother to use, not to mention sheets and pillowcases.

It wasn’t until one of the fitted sheets fell onto the floor with a soft thump that she realized she had been tossing everything on the shelves into the overflowing duffel bag.

Kaoru closed her eyes and bent down to remove enough to enable her to at least close the bag. Since she was clutching a set of hand towels—and why was she taking hand towels, she wondred absently—with her right hand, she reached down with her left hand to....

Left hand....

_‘Did your father ever have any students who fought left-handed?’_

Saitoh’s question from that afternoon echoed in her mind and Kaoru found herself frowning. There was something teasing at the edges of her memory...

_‘These wounds seem to have been made by a blade...’_

What was it?

She sat down on the top of the steps, the bags and towels forgotten, willing herself to remember.

If she tried to concentrate, the fragment skittered away, but by relaxing and closing her eyes, she could see it...

_It had been a warm summer’s day, the sunlight making bright patches in the courtyard outside of the training hall... her father’s advanced class was meeting in the dojo, and Kaoru, bored with whatever she’d been playing, had snuck over to peer in through the opened doorway..._

_... just in time to see the flash of a blade as half a bokken went spinning across the floor towards where she stood, in time to hear a cry of pain from one of the two men fighting in the middle of the floow, to see blood dripping onto the floor as he pressed his hand to the wound..._

_The man standing over him, brandishing his katana with a kind of savage glee, had seemed like a giant from her child’s viewpoint. Even now, she was fairly sure he must have been huge, towering over the other students in the room as they looked at him with horrified, fearful expressions._

_‘Weaklings! You’re all nothing but weaklings!’_

_At the time, she hadn’t really understood what she was seeing, hadn’t known what it meant that the man had brought an actual katana to the dojo and used it to attack a fellow student. All she had known was that there was something wrong, and that of course her Daddy would fix it, because that’s what Daddy did. It hadn’t surprised her at all to hear her father’s voice behind her, telling her to stand back as he strode into the training hall._

_“Gohei... you know that this school forbids fighting with live steel...’_

_The man… Gohei... had sneered at that, his face twisting into an ugly expression as he answered, ‘Pathetic!’_

Kaoru remembered his tone, harsh and snarling, and fragments of his words as he’d faced her father, brandishing a blade that continued to drip blood onto the floor of the training hall.

_‘... A sword is meant to chop people up—this blade is hungry for more blood..._

_... it wants yours...’_

It was strange, Kaoru thought, how the threat in those words hadn’t really registered with her when she was a child. Instead, she had seen only how her father had assumed a fighting position, calm and confident, preparing his attack. Gohei had made the first move, a reckless, slashing charge that had been brought to an abrupt end as her father sidestepped and brought the bokken down on his attacker’s sword hand, the sickening crunch of breaking bones echoing through the room.

_‘Efficient use of power is one of the key components of skill....’_ Kaoru thought. In retrospect, she could appreciate her father’s skill, the way that he had rendered his opponent incapable of further attacks with a single blow—wounding him only as much as was necessary to stop him, but no more. _‘With a blow like that, Gohei’s right hand would have been pretty much crippled... at least as far as kendo was concerned’_

_‘An obsessed and violent swordsman who would have had to learn to use his left hand... it’s not much to go on, but it’s something. I mean, how many other people would have gone after Dad with a katana, and known how to use it?’_

Standing up, Kaoru clenched her fists in determination, feeling more confidence than she had at any point since she’d found her father in the dojo. 

She finally had a lead. There was finally something she could do.

_‘The police need to know about this...’_ Kaoru thought, _‘As much information as I can give them, so they can track that bastard down and arrest him.’_

Her mind was racing as she headed down the stairs, not even bothering to turn on the light. The police would need information, and she knew exactly where to find it. She knew roughly how old she’d been at the time; she remembered hearing the man’s first name—that was all she needed to go to the dojo records and track him down. If he’d been a student, his name and personal information would have been recorded.

Crossing the moonlit courtyard, Kaoru calculated what years she needed to look for.

_‘He must have been a student for a while before that... better go back a couple of years...’_

She grinned as she opened the doors to the dojo training hall. Fortunately for her, the Kamiya family believed in keeping all of the records relating to the dojo and its students. The funny part was that the older records were actually in better shape, a series of neat books and binders stored in the training hall rather than in her father’s admittedly chaotic office.

_‘Student lists, student lists, student lists... Here we go! Now, to find the correct years...’_

Kneeling on the floor, Kaoru perused the relevant records, scanning the names with quick precision. She’d pulled down the records going back to five years prior to the incident in her memory, reasoning that a man as obsessed with swordfighting as this… this Gohei character had been wouldn’t have stuck around for much longer than that before getting frustrated and resorting to the kind of violence she remembered seeing. She wasn’t sure how long she spent turning pages, running her fingers quickly down the list of names, when she finally found it: a single name, crossed out, the dark ink standing out against the neat list.

”Gohei... Hiruma...” she read out loud in the stillness of the dojo.

_‘Ha! Got you, you son of a...’_

“So... you remember me...’ a deep, rusty voice echoed from near the doorway, its tone harsh and mocking.

Startled into dropping the book, Kaoru lept to her feet, staring at the man whose massive frame was now filling the open doorway.

“ _YOU!_ ” she yelled, full of seething fury, grabbing one of the bokken from the rack on the wall. “ _You’re_ the one who attacked my father and tried to destroy this school! _Bastard!”_

He moved forward into the room then, followed by other dark figures who entered the room behind him. Kaoru’s attention was so focused on Gohei, eyes narrowed, that it took her several seconds to register the sickening stench of rot, the way they were lumbering forward, giving leering grins with decaying mouths...

And she suddenly realized that, of all those who were currently in the room, she was the only one who was actually still among the living.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In this chapter I don’t own: Jin, from Samurai Champloo, Ran from Tsukikage Ran (aka, “Hiko’s mother and Misao’s Chinese grandmother wander around Japan”), Principal Gary Murray, Party Guy (“a happening dude who can talk to the young”) from the movie Buffy the Vampire Slayer, or Elric Stormbringer.


	36. All You Zombies

The beating of her heart seemed unnaturally loud in Kaoru’s ears, echoing into the stillness of the moonlit room. She automatically shifted into a defensive stance, hands tightening on her bokken, focusing on the positions of her opponents, even as her mind raced.

_‘They’re dead... they’re all dead, and... Dad was attacked by zombies? On Halloween? Ok, now, seriously, how cliché can you possibly...’_

It took the noise of shuffling feet, the sound of something that would have been laughter if living throats had produced it, to snap her sharply back to the present.

Gohei stood in front of her, holding a sheathed katana in his hands. His sunken eyes reflected dull red, and he gave a grin that showed far too many dull and yellowed teeth, contrasting with gray skin marked with dark lines of what Kaoru really hoped was dried blood from scratches across his skin.

“Actually,” the thing in front of her said, “I should be very grateful to your Daddy.... after all, if it weren’t for that idiot, I wouldn’t have gotten the chance to get this kind of strength.” 

As he took a step forward, Kaoru narrowed her eyes and tried to analyze the movement.

_‘I can believe that he’s strong, but I’ll bet that he’s slow... I mean, just the sheer size and muscle mass he’s got to move, not to mention the fact that he’s... um... dead and lurchy. Ok... bigger, stronger opponent; that’s nothing new. Focus on that, Kaoru, not the zombie aspect. This is the son-of-a-bitch who put your father into a coma; you have to beat him so that he can’t hurt any more of your family!’_

Gohei continued his rant, his mouth stretched into a gaping parody of a cheerful grin, “I’ve been through the bowels of Hell, and now I finally have the chance to send the Kamiya Kasshin style into the abyss where it belongs. You think a weak little girl like you can stop me?” 

Kaoru didn’t dignify that comment with a response; instead, she leapt forward and swung, aiming for the ribcage. Her attack was swift and precise, with all of her strength behind it.

With a smirk, Gohei intercepted the blow with his right hand, and Kaoru felt the shock of the impact all the way up her arms as he caught her bokken and held it. Laughing, he tossed her carelessly backwards, so that she hit the wall, hard. It took grim determination not to drop to the floor, but she managed, bracing herself and holding onto her weapon with both hands.

“See? _That_ didn’t hurt at all!” he boasted, addressing both her and the rest of the room’s occupants, who were watching the scene with blank dead eyes.

_‘Good thing they’re just standing there, not lurching around with their arms out and muttering, “Braaaaaaiiiiiiinsssss,” like a bad horror film,’_ Kaoru thought as she brought her bokken up into a defensive position, _‘Gohei seems to be the ringleader, and what he wants is to prove that he can beat me. I don’t think they’ll interfere unless he tells them to... so if I just focus on beating him... I need to concentrate on hitting his weakpoints...’_

This time, she ducked low and aimed for his knee, hearing the sickening crack as her bokken struck. As that leg gave out, she spun and landed another solid blow on the back of his neck.

Unfortunately, she’d been focusing so much on her opponent that she had forgotten the presence of the others in the room. Claw-like hands reached for her as the zombies snarled, teeth bared. This close, she could see more of their faces than she cared to, the cuts and other injuries distorting their features, the ripped and stained clothing, with grave dirt clinging to fabric and skin in rough clots. Striking out with her bokken, she managed to keep those reaching hands away from her, hearing fingerbones snap as she struck. Dancing back as she struck again and left one gangly figure with a shattered jaw, she frantically started going over her options if the entire group of them decided to press their advantage.

When they stopped after taking only a few steps forward, Kaoru took several deep, panting breaths, doing her best to ignore the stink of rotting flesh and fabric. She really didn’t want to turn around, but she could hear the way that Gohei was getting to his feet again behind her.

_Idiot,’_ she thought, ‘ _You should have focused on getting out of the enclosed space full of creepy undead guys with bad hair rather than getting caught up in revenge against the one making the most noise. Although the plus side to somebody in here being caught up in revenge, I guess, is that Gohei seems to want all the credit. The rest of these idiots are just here to block me in. Which, admittedly, is better than all of them actively swarming, but not by much. So, new plan-- get the hell out of Dodge.’_

She turned back around at the sound of Gohei drawing his sword and tossing the sheath carelessly to one side. It landed with a discordant clatter between two of the other figures lurking in the shadows. The fact that she really couldn’t have done anything about getting semi-surrounded when she was so outnumbered didn’t make Kaoru feel any less annoyed with herself.

_‘Ok. They won’t let me out, but if I can beat their leader, maybe they’ll be disoriented enough that I can make a break for it...’_ With that thought in mind, she sprang into action again, rushing forward and striking, then letting her momentum carry her past her target so that she could pivot and assume an attack position again.

In her adrenalized state, it took several seconds for the pain in her upper arm to register, and she looked down and winced at the blood spreading on her sleeve. 

_‘Dammit!’_ she thought, refusing to allow herself to be distracted by her injury, by the mocking, hollow laughter that echoed throughout the room. Narrowing her eyes, Kaoru immediately lept back in towards her opponent, striking fiercely.

This time, the slash of Gohei’s katana caught her bokken, and she stumbled with the change in weight as it was slashed in two, the top half spinning uselessly across the floor. Before Kaoru could recover, a large hand had grabbed the collar of her shirt, and she was being held up in the air, feet dangling helplessly, wincing away from the expression of savage triumph in her attacker’s dead eyes.

“I told you that this was a useless style,” he mocked, shaking her so that her teeth rattled. “I’m going to enjoy killing you slowly, and burning down this dojo.” Then he lifted her up higher, like a ragdoll, and turned her so that she could see the slavering expressions on the faces of his followers, “But first...who else wants a taste of this chickadee’s flesh?”

The _hunger_ in their responses, the way their eyes lit up, almost paralyzed her, and she whimpered faintly in the back of her throat. Then, as she felt Gohei moving her towards those reaching, rotting, hands, she yelled and shoved the sharp remains of her bokken hard into his shoulder as she kicked whatever part of him she could reach.

He dropped her, swearing violently, and she scambled out of reach as fast as she could, until she hit the wall, hissing at the impact. As he bellowed and dug at the wood, Kaoru bolted for the remains of the weapons rack, grabbing what she hoped was a reasonably whole bokken and swinging as she stood up. The shambling figure closest to her fell heavily sideways as she took out its knees and knocked it into the splintered wood.

Gohei’s frothing rage seemed to be affecting the zombies, who were no longer merely standing in place. Unfortunately, the main result seemed to be that they were no longer standing back and allowing him to have first shot. Or else her movement was attracting their attention; she couldn’t exactly ask.

Her arm hurt, but she gritted her teeth and swung again, aiming a rapid strike upwards at the jaw of a zombie whose face had enough piercings to set off an airport metal detector, and then spinning down to hit a third solidly on the head, grimacing at the dent she left in its skull.

_‘Not exactly regulation kendo. . . . thank goodness Dad made sure that Kamiya Kasshin included a healthy dose of what to do in non-regulation situations… or, as Sano puts it, bokkens for bar brawls and back alleys… of course, I don’t think fighting the undead was what either of them had in mind…’_

_‘Now, if I can just manage to circle around and get out…’_

An inarticulate bellow and a spray of foul, black liquid across the floor told her that Gohei had managed to dig out the bokken piece. His right arm hung down at his side, but his katana was still firmly clenched in his left hand as he ran forward, snarling and frothing at the mouth.

Kaoru clenched her jaw, watching his muscles tense, readying herself to duck out of the way of his swing, praying that she could be fast enough to get around him and towards the doorway.

Then, as he moved to begin the swing, just as she was tensing her muscles to leap, there was a sudden jarring sensation of _cold,_ and, before she could do more than gasp, she found herself scooped up and moved so fast it left her breathless and blinking on the other side of the training hall.

Looking up, she saw a familiar jaw, long red hair, and burningly furious amber eyes that were directed with narrowed concentration at the hulking zombie who was turning to stare at his intended prey.

“K... Kenshin?” Kaoru ventured, her heart still pounding from the fight. Or perhaps that was Kenshin’s heartbeat, echoing through her. The only sign that he had heard her was a slight tightening of his jaw as he held her.

“Who the hell are you?” Gohei demanded, “Another weakling student of this damn school?”

“No,” Kenshin replied, voice low and deadly calm, “But _I_ will be your opponent in this fight.”

Never allowing his eyes to leave Gohei’s, Kenshin put Kaoru down with infinite care, not removing his arms until he was sure she had found her footing. Then he moved to stand in front of her, his posture tense and prepared, one hand holding his sword by the sheath and the other poised to draw it and attack.

When Kaoru tried to move next to him, Kenshin’s arm stopped her almost at once and he said to her in a low, almost growling tone, “Stay there. Don’t move. _Don’t_ get involved in this.”

Before Kaoru could do more than open her mouth to protest, he blurred into action, sword flashing silver as he drew it. The first group of zombies was hitting the floor before they even had the chance to register a threat. Kenshin struck too quickly for her to see, taking the head off of one shambling form while leaping up, then hitting two more as he headed back down and landed. The blade of his sword was glowing to match his eyes, throwing off faint sparks. Watching the fight, Kaoru wondered if she was imagining the faint trails of amber fire left within the wounds he was inflicting. 

She braced herself, ready to start beating anything that began crawling towards herself or Kenshin, but it looked like the zombies were being affected by Kenshin’s sword the way that normal humans would have reacted to a normal blade. Well, except for a lack of blood, for which she was profoundly grateful.

_‘He said that his sword was made specially for him, that it made his job easier... is this the sort of thing that he was talking about, that he doesn’t have to worry about, say, bits and pieces of zombie being able to crawl around and attack, like in those horror films where there’s always some random leftover arm that creeps around and leaps out to throttle people or press inconvenient buttons? Or maybe real zombies are just different...I can’t believe I’m having to seriously think about the difference between real and fake zombies…’_

All things considered, Kaoru thought that it was probably the first option, that Kenshin’s sword was doing what it had been designed for. 

Her reverie was broken by a horrible caterwauling as several of the zombies, arms outstretched, jaws wide, attempted to head in her direction.

None of them even completed their first step before Kenshin was there between her and her would-be attackers, dispatching them with disdainful ease. Then he was nothing but a blur of crimson and amber and silver again, moving with deadly efficiency until only the hulking form of Gohei Hiruma remained, slack-jawed, attempting to process what had just happened, why his followers were now sprawled across the floor, leaving him alone.

“Red hair...” the larger man said, brow furrowed as he tried to think, “Cross-shaped scar... you... you’re Battousai! I’ve heard of you.”

Kenshin narrowed blazing eyes, “Have you? And who, pray tell, has been talking about me to something like _you_?”

Gohei let out a barking laugh. “It doesn’t matter. He told me all about you, _Battousai_. You may have taken care of those imbeciles, but _I’ve_ been perfecting my sword style for years! After I defeat you, I’ll take my time killing that bitch before burning this place to the ground!”

The red-haired demon didn’t even dignify his boast with a response.

And the last thing the zombie saw was a flash of crimson and amber fire, the silver of a sword blade, bearing down on him from above. As the ties binding him to his reanimated body were sliced and he fell into death, he heard one final, deadly whisper, echoing into the icy stillness...

_‘You. Won’t. Touch. Her.’_

* * *

Kaoru swallowed, and felt like the noise echoed into the sudden stillness.

“Ken… shin?” she ventured hesitantly, watching him as he stood over Gohei’s still form. She wasn’t sure if he was finished, or if there was something else he had to do to make sure Gohei would never come back to trouble them again. Thinking back to her own recent demon-related research, she tried to remember if there was any garlic in the house.

Kenshin re-sheathed his sword in a single fluid movement and turned to face her. There was something in his eyes, in the tense set of his jaw as he walked towards her with deliberate slowness that almost made her quail as she swallowed again.

“Now, Kaoru,” he said, his voice low and angry, “please explain what exactly the _hell_ you were thinking, coming back here by yourself after dark?”

“I wasn’t!” she declared, fighting the urge to shrink back against the wall, “I mean... I _didn’t_ come over here after dark; I came over here this afternoon, because I needed to call the students and let them know about the temporary schedule, and clean out the fridge and... and pack up things for Yahiko! It just... it took longer than I expected it would.”

He had reached the wall where she stood, and put one hand against it, above her shoulder. “And this relates to your being in the training hall rather than in the house how, exactly?”

Kaoru flushed. She had to admit that he had a point about that part. “I came in here to look for the older student lists,” she explained, “I’ve been wracking my brains since I found Dad; since you and the police asked about previous students with grudges, and the fact that whoever attacked Dad was left-handed .... and.. well, I remembered Gohei—that—that—um... the big guy. He was a student here when I was little, but he was never happy with just kendo; he attacked one of his classmates with a katana, and Dad had to stop him. I... I wanted to be able to tell the police about him, and so I came out here to look up his name.” She looked down at the floor, unable to meet his eyes. “I’m sorry... I should have been thinking about how late it had gotten; I know that, it’s just... I was so excited that I could actually _do_ something, that I could help find who was responsible, and prove that it wasn’t just teenagers playing a Halloween prank.”

Raising her eyes to meet his, she bit her lip at his expression. “I’m sorry,” Kaoru said again.

“Why didn’t you have somebody come with you?” Kenshin demanded, his tone less angry, but still tense.

“I... aside from not thinking it would take as long as it did, I didn’t want to drag anybody away from work.” Anticipating his next statement, she rushed to continue, “And I knew that you were working on finding out what had happened, so I really didn’t want to drag you away from that. Although I recognize that, in retrospect, that part... um... well, I should have suggested that we kill two birds... or, um, zombies, with one stone by having me be bait for...”

Kenshin’s other hand hit the wall and he practically snarled, “ _No!_ You are _not_ to ever, even think about being “bait,” Kaoru; that is....”

Then he paused, eyes widening, his breathing suddenly heavy. Taking a step back, he looked down to the blood staining the sleeve of her shirt.

Kaoru tried to follow the angle of his gaze, and realized that she’d forgotten the wound she’d received from Gohei’s sword. She opened her mouth to say something about it, but before she could, Kenshin made a noise that was like nothing else she’d heard from him before.

“Ke...?” she tried, and then let out a yelp as he reached out one hand, grasped the collar of her shirt, and yanked, hard, tearing the fabric so that the pieces fluttered to the floor.

She felt color rush to her cheeks, and reflexively went to move her arms, torn between hitting him and covering herself. However, Kenshin’s hands were quite firmly locked around her lower arms, holding her in place as he bent down and...

Kaoru yelped again and tried to jerk backwards as she felt Kenshin’s mouth against the sword cut.

_‘What... what... he’s... WHAT?’_

Her breathing was slightly panicked as she felt the rasp of his tongue on her skin. After several long seconds, he pulled back and exhaled deeply. Still trying to parse everything that had just taken place, Kaoru could only stare at him with wide, shocked eyes as he pulled her roughly forward, wrapping his arms around her and breathing against her hair. Then, without saying a word or giving her a chance to protest, he scooped her up into his arms again, carefully tucking her head against his chest as he carried her back into the house and set her down on the couch. He picked up an afghan and wrapped it around her, then left her briefly. 

When he came back, carrying the family first aid kit, Kaoru had recovered enough to sit up and say, “Kenshin! What do you think you’re....”

“I need to bandage that... sword cuts can be deep, kitten; you’re lucky that it only grazed you.” Kenshin said, his normal unflappable calm returning as he poured disinfectant onto a cotton pad. “This might sting...”

“That’s not the... ow, ow, ow, darn it, ow... Kenshin! What were you _thinking,_ doing... doing… _that_?

When his only response was to start unrolling the gauze, she yanked at his bangs, hard. Looking up to meet her gaze, he sighed and paused. “I needed to... I needed to see what kind of wound it was, Kaoru. That was the quickest way. Now hold still; I need to wrap this.”

“What kind of... but Gohei was the only one in the room with a sword, what other kind of...” Then, remembering the movies she’d seen, Kaoru said slowly, “You thought... you thought I got bitten? Um... but… Kenshin, if I’d gotten bitten, wouldn’t my shirt... have... been... _KENSHIN_!!!! You... you... _ripped off my..._ ” She smacked his shoulder with her good hand and tried to get up off the couch, but he held her still as he started bandaging her upper arm.

“If you insist, you can take care of that after I’m finished, kitten,” Kenshin said, “Then we’re going back to the apartment.” 

Then he leaned back in, close enough so that his long hair was falling against her skin and the scent of ginger teased her. As he worked, he murmured something under his breath that he couldn’t hear, a low, rhythmic cadence. She wasn’t entirely certain there wasn’t a faint glow in the air surrounding them as he spoke, a warmth that tingled along her nerves.

When he leaned back after finishing the bandages, he said softly, “Is that alright, Kaoru?”

“Um… yes; thank you, that’s fine,” she replied, trying to keep her heart from racing at the amber sparks in his now-violet eyes. “I... I need to get dressed now, and get the bags I packed for Yahiko... did... is your car here?”

“No, we’ll just take yours,” Kenshin said, standing up and offerring her a hand to pull her easily into a standing position. “I’ll get the bags for Yahiko. And I’m driving; you’re in no condition to be behind the wheel of a car right now.”

“I didn’t hit my head that hard!” Kaoru retorted, and then, at the way Kenshin’s eyes widened, she closed her mouth again, quickly.

_‘Oops... he wasn’t there for that part, was he.... I really just need to not talk about this anymore.’_

Rather than risking further conversation, Kaoru headed upstairs, trying to ignore the way that Kenshin was now hovering at her elbow. Fortunately, he didn’t try to go into her room with her, although, she had to admit, since she was already wandering around in just her bra, he would only have gotten a chance to see her putting _on_ clothing rather than removing it.

She was slightly surprised that she wasn’t more embarrassed about it, but decided that that was largely due to Kenshin himself ignoring her state of undress.

Pulling on the first t-shirt she found, Kaoru headed back out of her room, only to find Kenshin holding the duffle bags and waiting for her. He stopped in the kitchen to pick up the bag of things she’d taken out of the fridge, and grabbed her keys off of the counter. When Kaoru opened her mouth to declare that she could help him carry things, Kenshin raised one eyebrow at her, clearly ready to disagree.

Their stand-off was interrupted by the noise of the door swinging forcefully open.

Kaoru spun around, eyes wide, while Kenshin sighed as Kaoru’s supervisor strode into the kitchen looking like he’d just caught a pair of his advanced chemistry students trying to see how close homemade nitroglycerin came to the real thing.

“Himura, what the hell is going on; you were supposed to…”

“Saitoh, this is NOT part of your regular patrol area, what do you think you’re…”

They both started speaking at once, glaring at each other as they angrily bit the words out. Worried that the two men were going to start circling each other again, or something that would be even more detrimental to the furniture, Kaoru jumped into the conversation, saying brightly, “Well! Hi! It’s a surprise to see you here, sir, but, um, thank you for coming; I don’t think we’ll need to look at the family swords, but your information about a left-handed attacker was actually….very…helpful?”

She trailed off as both men turned to face her, their expressions somewhere between anger and bafflement. Well, Kenshin looked slightly baffled; the other man’s expression had settled somewhere closer to resigned. Taking a deep breath, he finally said, “Yes, Ms Kamiya, I would say that we’ve gotten past the point of looking at any additional swords. However, that doesn’t answer my original question of what _exactly_ happened.”

“Umm…. Well, I came over this afternoon to make some phone calls and pick up some things, and then I connected the dots about a potential former student who would have needed to learn to fight with his left hand, except I hadn’t realized how dark it was getting, so by the time I tracked down his name in the records, surprise zombie attack.” Wincing slightly, she admitted, “And I shouldn’t have come over here to the scene of the crime alone in the first place, especially after lecturing Yahiko about not doing anything stupid like running around alone trying to track down whoever attacked Dad…. Oh, ye gods and little fishes, my little brother is going to hold this over my head until the _end of time_.”

“Zombies?” the taller man queried, turning back to face Kenshin.

Kenshin nodded shortly. “Not quite enough for a horde, but enough to be a matter of concern if they started wandering around. Luckily they all seemed attached to-- what was his name again?”

“Gohei. Gohei Hiruma. He was one of the students here years ago, but he was more interested in hurting people than in actually learning kendo. I wasn’t that old, but I remember him bringing a katana here and using it to attack some of his fellow students- then he tried to attack Dad, and Dad took him down. Went straight for his right hand- -his sword hand at the time-- to make sure Gohei wouldn’t be able to hurt anybody else. From what he said, I guess Gohei started looking for a left-handed sword style after that, specifically to come after Dad and the Kamiya Kasshin school. I mean, he went after Dad the other night-- from some of the things he said this time, I think he mainly came back to destroy the school itself, not because I was here.”

She didn’t feel the need to add that Gohei had developed plans for her pretty quickly once he’d found her in the dojo.

“But he was also dead,” Kenshin interjected. “There wasn’t anything living in that group, Saitoh. It explains why we had such trouble tracking them down.”

“Well, we’re not going to get any answers standing around here-- I’m going to need to look at the bodies.”

The word “moron” hung unspoken as he turned sharply and started striding back towards the door. Kenshin looked like he wanted to say something, but gritted his teeth and followed along.

Kaoru, of course, took a deep breath, exhaled, and ran to catch up.

“Wait, what did he call you?” Kaoru asked her supervisor as they crossed the flagstones towards the training hall.

“Different times call for different names,” he replied. “I’ve been Goro Fujita for almost as long as I’ve known Battousai-- and even longer than he’s been Kenshin Himura.”

“Do you… have a preference? I mean, should I start calling you Mr. Saitoh, or keep one name for school and one for your other job?”

“It really doesn’t matter. Whichever name I’m using, _I_ always know who I am.”

While Kenshin and Saitoh examined the bodies, Kaoru focused on making mental notes on what would need to be fixed. Fortunately, the floor could be salvaged, although getting the bloodstains out would take time and effort. Not to mention an afternoon with a drum sander.

Kenshin walked over to where Saitoh was kneeling next to one of the corpses-- well, part of a corpse, anyway.

“I take it the blunt force trauma is from Ms Kamiya’s efforts,” Saitoh murmured. “Her technique is admirable. Not really made for melee fighting, but very few styles are nowadays. _Your_ work is obvious, of course, Battousai.”

His tone implied that “obvious” was not synonymous with “admirable.”

Fighting the urge to respond in kind, Kenshin said, “Except for Gohei, the entire group was all males, early to mid-twenties, varying ethnic groups. Significant facial piercings, the kind you get when somebody’s trying to look daring and doesn’t care that they’ll look ridiculous in five years, and, based on what I’ve seen, a lot of very badly-done cheap tattoos.”

“None of them look familiar,” Kaoru observed from over his shoulder. Her knuckles were slightly white from where she was clenching her fists, but other than that she was giving no sign of being disturbed by the bodies. “I mean, even putting aside the, the, personal decorations and the hair choices, I don’t think any of them are local.” Looking over at the two men, she elaborated, “Dad does a lot of neighborhood outreach programs-- I mean, _a lot_ of neighborhood outreach programs. Even kids who never take any actual lessons come by at some point to check the place out.”

Standing up, Saitoh asked, “And you got the feeling that they were-- how did you put it, ‘attached’ to Hiruma?”

“Well, they all came in together, but then the rest of them stopped moving forwards while Gohei was practicing Villainous Monologuing for Dummies. Then I think they weren’t really doing anything, other than standing around in a circle-- except when I got too close, they started reaching out.” Kaoru said, with a slight shudder. “They only started attacking when I stabbed Gohei in the shoulder and he was trying to get the bokken piece out.”

Saitoh looked thoughtful at this. “Loss of control?” he mused.

“Or they were just reacting to his emotions,” Kenshin suggested. “It seems more likely than assuming that somebody could be constantly keeping a group of hungry zombies in check for several days. Remember, there have only been two attacks.”

“A skilled necromancer wouldn’t have any trouble…”

“The emphasis there, I think, is on ‘skilled’-- and, lest we forget, Gohei was also a zombie.”

“Not the best state to start learning how to control the dead,” Saitoh agreed, pulling out a cigarette. “I don’t suppose there’s a convenient amulet around his neck or something like that?”

Kaoru took a bokken off of the floor and poked gingerly at Gohei’s collar, then his cuffs. “No; nothing. No amulet, no bracelet, no zombie-mind-control earrings. He’s clean.”

“There’s never a convenient amulet,” Saitoh muttered under his breath.

“Actually,” Kaoru said, frowning, “he really is kind of clean. Not, you know, freshly-showered clean, but… everybody else has actual dirt on them. Look at their hands.”

“Clawed their way out of their graves, most likely,” Kenshin remarked. “Except for the one in charge. Who was also the most vocal. None of the others were giving long speeches.”

“Since when have you ever given them time to?” Saitoh asked, taking a drag on his cigarette.

“They weren’t exactly chatty when it was just me, either,” Kaoru reminded him before Kenshin could say anything else. “So, you think Gohei was some kind of… I don’t know, upgraded zombie, and everybody else was more of a drone?”

“Yes, but who would upgrade a zombie?”

“Given that Gohei claimed to have heard of me,” Kenshin said slowly, “I can think of at least one candidate. Although that still doesn’t explain why-- or how Gohei ended up with a gang of zombies following him.”

“We need to bring in Shinomori; dealing with the dead is more his field than anybody’s. In the meantime, I think that we can probably dispense with the rest of the remains.” 

Kaoru, who had been having visions of her new car getting loaded up with zombie parts and long drives to find convenient alligator ponds, was relieved when Kenshin asked her to go load up her car with the bags she’d packed up earlier while he and Saitoh handled the disposal problem.

The flickering lights she could see through the dojo windows were disconcerting, but at least they weren’t the right color for actual fire. 

* * *

By the time she came back to let Kenshin know that the car was set and ask if he still insisted on driving, all of the corpses except one were gone. Aoshi was there, examining Gohei’s hands.

“Hi, Aoshi. You know, at this point, you should just bring Misao with you; it will save so much time in explanations afterwards.”

“Mmmm,” he replied absent-mindedly. “Himura, did you notice any coordination between his movements and the rest of the undead in the room?”

“No,” Kenshin said, “but I wasn’t exactly looking for any. Or giving them time to synchronize movements.”

Aoshi frowned slightly, “Not that kind of coordination-- nothing on the physical plane. More like… energy strings. I was hoping you might have noticed breaking them, if nothing else.”

“And since I didn’t, what does that mean?”

“Well, either you were too emotional to notice, or they weren’t there.” He grimaced as he stood up. “Yes, I realize that doesn’t exactly narrow it down. But your not noticing anything at all tips the balance slightly-- very slightly-- in favor of them not being there.” 

“So what does _that_ mean?” Kaoru asked after Aoshi seemed disinclined to continue.

“It means that we’re not dealing with anything set up post mortem; that would have been connective energy, like marionette strings that just react to being pulled. Whatever the connection was between Gohei and everybody he brought with him, it reached back to before their deaths.”

“And Gohei was probably the one in charge then too,” Saitoh remarked.

“It’s too early to speculate,” Aoshi said, “… but, yes, that would be logical. It’s easier to have authority carry over into death than it is to elevate somebody who had been equal or lesser in life. That’s even more true with zombies. It’s not the best condition for adjusting to new mental concepts. Frankly, I don’t know why anybody would bother with them-- there are so many more useful forms of necromancy.”

Kaoru opened her mouth to ask what he meant, and then closed it again.

“Which leaves us with a host of questions that can’t be answered by a corpse,” Kenshin sighed. “Aoshi, if you’re done we should probably…”

Whatever he was about to say was interrupted by a loud noise from outside the training hall.

“ _Oi_ , you bastards, what the fu… Kenshin?”

Sano trailed off mid-warcry, lowering the baseball bat he was brandishing. Megumi, two steps behind him, had her phone out, fingers poised to take pictures or start dialing. Without turning around, Kaoru could hear Aoshi muttering something under his breath in an unfamiliar language. 

“Hi… Sano…. What….are you doing here… after dark… very far away from where you normally are?” Kaoru asked feebly.

Looking slightly sheepish, he said, “I kind of bribed your neighbor to let me know if it looked like anything was going down over here while you were away. I know you said it wasn’t teenagers, but, you know, just in case. She gave me a call to tell me she was hearing strange noises over here, so I turned the car around and headed straight over.”

“Right. Excellent. Good thinking.” Turning to face her cousin, Kaoru said, “Well, we should probably all just go back to the….”

She trailed off at the expression on Megumi’s face.

“Kaoru Kamiya, what in the _hell_ is my missing body doing on your dojo floor?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter: Kaoru swears that this time neither she nor Misao were involved in any kind of Halloween corpse-theft prank, Sano swears that he will never again fail to inform his fiancée of pesky little personal details about mutal friends, and Megumi just swears.
> 
> In this chapter, I don’t own: Any zombie movies, or any of the dialogue from the English dub of the first episode of the Rurouni Kenshin anime that is weirdly appropriate for a zombie situation.
> 
> Notes: Yes, way back when, I did indeed resurrect a dead fic by using zombies, why do you ask?
> 
> Author's note:Back when I was posting earlier chapters of this on FFN, somebody guessed that Gohei would be Megumi’s missing corpse……and I can’t relocate who. Argh. Congratulations, nonetheless! Also, Compucles asked a very good question re: the differences between the anime and the manga in terms in terms of the Hiruma plot. The version of the plot in the anime, where Gohei is a former student out for revenge after Kaoru’s father broke his right hand, etc., fit into this situation a lot better. There’s also another aspect of Anime-Gohei that is going to come into play in the next chapter, so that version of the story just worked here where the manga version would have been really awkward to shoehorn in. Other than the brief reference to Kihei (Gohei’s smarter brother in the manga, and part of the Hiruma brother’s evil plan to take over the dojo and get the property) that I snuck in earlier, I don’t really have any plans to do anything with him. At least… not yet, mwa ha ha ha ha!


	37. Heaven and Earth

Kaoru gaped at her cousin, for once at a loss for words.

“Ah… well... you see, Megumi, what happened is….”

Fortunately, before she could dig herself any deeper, Aoshi spoke up from behind her.

“You’re familiar with the deceased?”

The young doctor rolled her eyes. “The idiots in the morgue have only been trying to get me in trouble about him for the past _several weeks_ , of course I know who that is. Was. That’s Gohei Hiruma, male, mid-forties, died of assorted injuries I won’t bother you with, as a result of vehicular stupidity. Now, correct me if I’m wrong, Kaoru, but this is not a recognized morgue or hospital facility, so what exactly is going on? It’s not like he could just stroll in here under his own power.”

“Ah… well… you see… he kind of… did… that. That is what he did,” Kaoru said weakly.

“Strolled in here.” Megumi said flatly, raising an eyebrow. “A weeks-old corpse just strolled in here. Kaoru, did you hit your head?”

“No… I mean, not that hard… I mean, that’s not the point! Look, there are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy. Also, I would really say that it was more ‘lurched in a creepy undead fashion and with hostile intent’ than “strolled.”

“Missy, are you trying to say this guy was a zombie? Are you sure you weren’t… imagining….” Sano seemed to suddenly register Kenshin’s presence as he trailed off and then swallowed hard. Kaoru wasn’t sure if his reaction was due to the presence of a former zombie, a current demon, or a long-overdue explanation to his very annoyed and extremely practical fiancée.

“Okay,” Kaoru said, “Megumi, I realize that this sounds nuts, but… take a look at the body. I mean, does that look like a corpse that is several weeks old?”

Megumi glared at her, but went over to examine Gohei’s remains. Meanwhile, Saitoh raised an eyebrow at Aoshi, who shrugged and said, “She’s been looking for that specific individual, _and_ she knows what he looks like. Concealments won’t really work in the face of both of those facts.”

Kaoru took a deep breath and went over to where her cousin was kneeling by the body and frowning as she poked at the back of one of Gohei’s hands.

“This doesn’t make sense,” Megumi muttered, “and I don’t even want to know what that black goo is.”

“Zombie blood. Or whatever passes for blood in a zombie,” Kaoru supplied helpfully.

“Actually, it’s probably got very little human blood left,” Aoshi remarked, “There are various alchemical compounds that….” He trailed off as Megumi and Kaoru both looked at him with near-identical expressions.

Breaking the silence, Kaoru said, “Megumi… I know that this sounds crazy. Trust me; I know. But Gohei was a zombie; he probably staggered out of the morgue under his own lurchy zombie power, which is why nobody could find the corpse. And… he attacked Dad. You know his name because he was your accident victim; I know him from years ago, when Dad broke his right hand to keep him from hurting any of the other students. He came back here tonight with a bunch of other zombies that seemed to have some kind of connection to him because he wanted to destroy the dojo.”

“Other zombies,” Megumi repeated, raising an eyebrow as she looked around.

“Which brings me to my second point, actually,” Kaoru continued sheepishly. “Specifically, Kenshin.”

“Kaoru Kamiya, if you are trying to tell me that your boyfriend is a zombie….”

“He is _not_ … not a zombie. Um. What I mean is, Kenshin is the one who actually killed Gohei and everybody else. It’s actually kind of his job, dealing with supernatural threats, which zombies definitely count as, even if they aren’t threatening to set stuff on fire, and I know that this sounds completely crazy, but you have to believe me, because we seem to be having a lot of supernatural threats recently, and, well….”

“Kenshin’s a demon.” Sano broke in, “One who deals with supernatural threats, not one who _is_ a supernatural threat.”

Megumi looked from Kaoru to Sano and back as if trying to figure out which of them she should book a padded room for first.

“Yeah…” Sano said. “So, Meg? There’s something I’ve been meaning to talk to you about….”

* * *

Kaoru looked across the room to where her cousin was having an animated discussion with her fiancé.

“How is it going?” Kenshin asked as he came up to stand beside her.

“One Valentine’s Day, Sano decided that homemade beef jerky would be an appropriately romantic present,” she said absently. “I think this might be worse.”

“Homemade beef jerky?” Kenshin repeated.

“They both got food poisoning. It was not a good weekend.” Kaoru winced. “Oooo, that’s gonna leave a mark.”

“I think he can handle it,” Kenshin said dryly.

“As long as they don’t do more damage to the training hall, I think it will be okay. I mean, we’re already going to have to fix up the floors and repair everything else. Frankly, anything that makes Sano feel like he should help out without copious promises of beer and pizza is a good thing.”

Megumi’s expression, which had gone from skeptical to outraged then back to skeptical by way of a detour through tightly-contained amusement, settled somewhere around resigned as she turned and headed back towards Kaoru, ignoring Sano’s frantic gesticulations behind her.

“By the way, kitten, I’m very pleased to hear that you think of me as ‘not a zombie.’” Kenshin’s lips ghosted across her neck as he moved away before she had a chance to respond.

Kaoru was spared having to decide how to respond by the fact that her cousin had reached her and was standing in front of her, arms crossed.

“I have decided, after careful consideration, that I am not going to kill my idiot fiancé,” Megumi declared. “Don’t look too relieved; I don’t want him to think he’s getting off easy on this one. Now it’s your turn.”

“Will you settle for a short version now, as long as I provide you with a longer version later where there’s coffee and chocolate? Or possibly fancy drinks, made someplace more upscale than Blue Mooney’s?”

“I accept your bribes. Now talk.”

Kaoru bit her lip, trying to decide where to start. “Okay, I take it that Sano filled you in on the part where Kenshin’s been working in high schools, trying to deal with students who’ve been playing around with the forces of evil?” At Megumi’s nod, she continued. “Right, well, at some point after he rescued Sano from… yeah. At some point after that, he turned up at our high school, conspicuously hanging out with the jocks and cheerleaders. He interrupted them when they were trying to do some kind of demon-summoning ritual or demonic-power ritual or….or something, and then I interrupted him when he was still doing clean-up, and, well, stabbed him a lot, set the building on fire, and hid his sword under my bed, because I wasn’t exactly going to leave it in place.”

“I think that you and Yahiko watched too many fantasy Kung Fu movies as children,” Megumi said, looking slightly pale. “I mean, I’m not saying it turned out to be a bad thing, but I’m seeing definite influence.”

“Yes, thank you, Dr. Freud. As you can see, Kenshin recovered, he came back a couple of months ago, proved that he was not actually evil, and here we are. Oh, and he got his sword back. Because I kind of got kidnapped by an actually evil demon. And, um, there have been assorted other supernatural things going on that seem to be related, plus the zombie attack, which seems to be about the dojo. And Aoshi’s also a demon. As is my supervisor.” In an attempt to lighten the mood, Kaoru made a dramatic hand gesture and declared, “Together, they fight crime!”

More seriously, she continued, “And if you have any suggestions for how to tell Yahiko, I would really love to hear them. I mean, he already thinks that Kenshin being a demon is amazing, so it’s not like he’s going to run screaming from a demonic teacher, but I really don’t want him hanging around staring at Mr. Fujita… Mr. Saitoh… my boss… waiting for something supernatural to happen.”

“You owe me so many drinks right now, Kamiya.”

“Yeah…. I kind of figured I would,” Kaoru sighed. “I may or may not owe Misao drinks; I mean, she knows about Aoshi, but I don’t think he’s told her about Kenshin.”

“In that case, Aoshi owes her drinks. Or dinner. Probably dinner.”

“Thank you for not freaking out too much.”

“I’m a doctor, you idiot, not a Victorian angel in the house. Trust me; after med school and hospital work, the ‘freaking out’ bar is set pretty high.”

“Fair enough. In that case, thank you for not being too angry that Sano and I couldn’t figure out a good way to explain the whole ‘demons and sacrifices and zombies, oh my’ aspect of our lives.”

“Have I mentioned the fact that you owe me soooo many drinks? _And_ chocolate?”

“Right.”

Meanwhile, on the other side of the room, Hajime Saitoh was looking with thinly-veiled contempt at the corpse and contemplating whether he had time to go outside and have a cigarette.

By his calculations, Dr. Takani’s conversation with Ms Kamiya would take another ten minutes. Given that the doctor clearly had important information-- information without which he doubted they could make much progress towards figuring how the late, unlamented Gohei Hiruma had managed to come back from the dead-- that ten minutes was unlikely to be particularly productive.

Before he could actually head outside, Shinomori approached him and said, “I’ve contacted Hannya. I think that having him here to listen to what Dr. Takani can tell us will save time. I think that we should start to formulate a plan for once we have more information. For starters, we need to figure out exactly what Gohei was doing that made him an authority for a gang of kids half his age.”

Reluctantly, Saitoh recognized that he was not going to be able to have that cigarette after all.

“That would be more efficient,” he agreed, “especially since Ms Kamiya and Dr. Takani are going to need to return home soon. I don’t know what the good doctor’s schedule looks like, but tomorrow is a school day, and Ms Kamiya needs to be on time.”

Shinomori’s raised eyebrow indicated that he hadn’t considered that aspect of things, but he didn’t say anything to disagree with it. He gestured at Himura, who was talking with the doctor’s rooster-headed fiancé, and both men came over.

Sano hoped that he didn’t look as queasy as he had felt when he’d started talking to Megumi. Even though he’d been positive-- well, pretty sure, anyway-- that she wouldn’t actually throw his ring back in his face and storm out, he had been braced for disbelief and possibly violence. Fortunately, as Megumi had pointed out, the fact that Sano’s story made him look ridiculous rather than heroic actually worked in his favor.

Plus, of course, the presence of a zombie in the middle of the floor helped make it clear that he and Kaoru weren’t just making stuff up.

“Hey, Aoshi,” he said, nodding, “Hey… Kaoru’s boss. Um. Mr. Fujita, right?”

“Close enough.”

Before Sano could do more than look slightly puzzled at Saitoh’s response, Kenshin said, “Aoshi, what’s the best way to get Hiruma’s corpse back to the hospital morgue? Preferably one that doesn’t leave it leaking black ooze or showing anything else that might raise suspicions.”

“Such as the fatal sword injuries?” Saitoh inquired laconically.

Kenshin’s jaw tightened slightly, but his tone remained even. “I think that we can all agree that we need to arrange things so that Megumi doesn’t have to deal with any further annoyances from the morgue, or anybody at the administration. After all, what happened clearly wasn’t her fault.”

“How about annoyances for those morgue guys?” Sano asked “That Allen lady, she was threatening to get her called up before the hospital board, tell them that Megumi must have faked the dates on her paperwork.”

“The best plan is the one that leaves the fewest ripples,” Aoshi replied. “I’ll purify the corpse and then we’ll make sure it ends up at a different hospital’s morgue, with an identification tag that’s reasonably close to the one on Hiruma’s original paperwork. Simple error; nobody to blame, no repercussions. No reason for anybody to look more closely.”

“You think that somebody might be looking?” Kenshin asked slowly.

“I think,” Aoshi said as he pulled a stick of chalk from his pocket, “that Hiruma obviously had help. I think that until we know exactly what kind of help he had, we have to assume that they might not be done with him.”

He bent over the corpse and began to make a series of complex markings across the front that luminesced slightly before dissolving. “And I think that it would behoove all of us to think twice about leaving anything behind that might look like personal interest. Avoiding an administrative inquiry altogether makes strategic sense; _ensuring_ an administrative inquiry into somebody who has a demonstrated grudge makes it look like you’re trying to punish them for holding a grudge.”

“Which makes folks ask why you’re protecting the person they went after,” Sano finished. “Is this something we need to be worried about?”

“Not at present.”

Before Sano could press Aoshi any further, there was the sound of a throat clearing.

“Captain? You requested my assistance?”

“Yes, Hannya; thank you.”

“Gaaaah!”

Everybody in the room, including Kaoru and Megumi, turned to where Sano was pale and pointing one shaking finger towards the figure wearing a horned kabuki mask.

“Guys, guys, he _doesn’t have any feet_!”

Kaoru wasn’t sure if she was gaping at Sano or at the newcomer. Aoshi looked slightly peeved at the outburst, while Kenshin was clearly struggling not to laugh. Saitoh’s expression, familiar from many days in the classroom, clearly said he was wishing he could go have a cigarette.

“I’m perfectly capable of materializing feet if necessary,” Hannya said, sounding slightly offended. “It is generally not necessary.”

“This is my chief lieutenant, Hannya. As you noticed, Sagara, yes, he is a ghost. There’s absolutely nothing unusual about that; his noncorporeal state is one of the many things that make him an extremely valuable comrade.”

Sano, looking slightly green, looked like he wanted to debate what actually counted as “nothing unusual.”

“It’s very nice to meet you,” Kaoru interjected, trying to get the conversation back on track.

“Thank you, Ms Kamiya. I’m glad that you are well.”

“Yes. Thank you. It’s been a very strange evening. Again.”

“Hannya, this is Dr. Takani. She was familiar with the circumstances of the late Mr. Hiruma’s death, and may be able to shed some light on the circumstances of his undeath.”

The masked ghost bowed politely to Megumi, who nodded back. Kaoru wondered absently if a polite, footless ghost was higher on the ‘freaking out’ bar than a recent zombie.

Taking a deep breath, Megumi said in her best professional tone, “I don’t have any experience with undeath, but I can tell you about the circumstances of his death the first time around. Gohei Hiruma was driving a van full of drunken idiots and yelling on his cell phone. He ran a red light and slammed straight into a restaurant delivery truck in the middle of the intersection a couple of blocks from here, at which point the van behind him ran into his van and then went sideways into a telephone pole. The police said that the second driver was drunk, as were his passengers. There was another car involved, too; I think the driver tried to stop before taking the turn into the intersection but didn’t manage.” 

Kenshin asked, “Were the two vans traveling together?” 

“The police thought that they were. As far as I know, they were basing it on the fact that it was two vanloads of drunk guys who were traveling next to each other and passing around the same cheap beer. They assumed it was some kind of sports team; one of the police mentioned something about equipment, but he didn’t say what kind.” 

“Given his subsequent actions,” Saitoh mused, “I would say the odds are in favor of martial arts equipment.” 

“Captain, I believe one of my discoveries might be relevant here,” Hannya offered. “Gohei Hiruma ran a dojo on the outskirts of…” 

“He _what_? Excuse me?” Kaoru burst in. “Listen, I don’t know what he might have claimed he was doing, but there is no way that guy was running any kind of legitimate dojo _anywhere_. After what he did here when I was a kid, the local martial arts community would have run him out of town.” 

Hannya’s mask remained expressionless, but he seemed nonplussed as Kaoru continued. 

“And not everybody is as nice as Dad-- Hiruma would have been _lucky_ to just get his hand broken again.” She glared at the corpse for good measure, narrowing her eyes as if daring it to get up and try anything. 

After a moment of silence, Aoshi asked, “You’re saying that he couldn’t have started a legitimate dojo- what about one that was, say, less than legal?” 

Kaoru took a deep breath and exhaled, clearly getting her temper under control. 

“It happens,” she admitted. “Not often, but McDojos definitely pop up. You get some idiot who took a couple of lessons, or who thinks he’ll be able to make a lot of money if he comes up with a fancy-sounding name for punching people. We try to keep an eye out for that, though-- it doesn’t do the real schools any good, not to mention those guys usually teach terrible techniques. But they’re…,” she gestured, clearly looking for a word, “…. like Cobra Kai, all bluster and bragging.” 

At their blank expressions she said, “Cobra Kai? From _The Karate Kid_? Okay, never mind. What I mean is, they’re noisy. Neon flyers in the laundromats, advertisements in the local paper… showy stuff, so that whoever is running them can gull as many people and make as much money as possible before the real fighters either get them to shut down or beat them in…. oh, _hell_.” 

“Kaoru? What are you thinking?” Megumi asked. 

“I think I know why Gohei wasn’t making any noise about his so-called “dojo,” Kaoru said slowly. “I mean, I don’t know where he recruited his band of merry morons, but I don’t think he wanted money. We know that he wanted revenge against Dad, against the Kamiya Kasshin style. The best way to do that would be, well, to defeat Dad and his students. Probably wreck the dojo, steal the sign; make a big public statement. If that’s what he wanted, he would have had to stay under the radar until he felt ready to make his big move.” 

“Megumi, you said that the accident was close by?” Kenshin inquired.

She nodded. “A couple of blocks. I don’t know what direction they were going, but I could find out.” 

“I don’t believe that’s necessary,” Aoshi said. “Given that Hiruma’s obsession carried over into death, it’s more than likely that he died while trying to carry it out.” 

“So, being obsessed with destroying our school… brought him back from the dead?” Kaoru asked hesitantly. 

“That wouldn’t have been enough on its own, no. But this does answer one question. The rest of the zombies were all Hiruma’s students when they were alive-- and he probably spent a lot of their training time setting up the Kamiya Kasshin dojo as the nemesis of his own school. However _he_ came back, the teacher-student connection, and the pathological focus on this dojo, would have been enough to bring _them_ back. At least enough to be a problem here; it would have been interesting to see if he could have used them anyplace else.” Catching everybody else’s expressions, Aoshi clarified, “In a strictly hypothetical sense, of course.” 

Saitoh frowned. “While I’m glad that we can explain the rest of the zombies, this still leaves the most important questions unanswered.” 

“You mean, who reanimated Gohei in the first place?” 

When her question was met with resounding silence, Kaoru blinked, then narrowed her eyes when neither Kenshin nor Aoshi nor Saitoh quite met her eye. 

“Wait… why _isn’t_ that one of the most important questions?” 

“We have a guess,” Kenshin admitted. “We don’t know for sure, but it’s somebody who would have had the power to create zombies-- and Hiruma did say he’d heard of me by name.” 

“Is it somebody who would also have been able to teach a left-handed sword style? Because Gohei had to get his new school from someplace, and I don’t think he picked it up between dying and coming back here bragging about how strong he’d gotten.” 

Saitoh scowled and looked even more like he needed a cigarette break. “Teach it? No. There are… some complications. But arrange for Gohei to have a teacher, absolutely. The problem is that Gohei would have needed to pay for his lessons-- and that would not have been cheap. More than that; he would have needed to make a compelling case as to why he _deserved_ to have those lessons, let alone be brought back after death to complete his vengeance. No offense to your family, Ms Kamiya, but the Kamiya Kasshin school isn’t exactly of international importance.” 

“I think I speak for the entire family when I say that we’re perfectly happy not to be the focus of evil supernatural forces, thank you.” 

Kaoru decided not to mention that she had been half afraid that Saitoh or Aoshi was going to start spouting ancient prophecies about one of the Kamiya siblings being destined to rule the world-- or, even worse, destined to have a magical world-conquering child. Although she supposed being the aunt to a conqueror could have its perks. 

“Very few people anticipate being brought back after death,” Hannya remarked. “It’s more likely that the original contract between Gohei and the other party made promises about ensuring that Gohei would have his guaranteed chance at vengeance and accidental death was just something that the magic had to work around.” 

“Megumi, what was Gohei’s job? I mean, what was he listed as in the hospital paperwork? He couldn’t have been listed as a dojo instructor, or the police wouldn’t have just said something about sports-- and they probably would have talked to us and to the other schools after the accident to see if his, um, ‘school’ was in some kind of competition. And he must have been doing something to earn money, especially if his special lessons were that pricey.” 

Megumi bit her lip, thinking. “Um… he… hang on… he had a business, it’s on the tip of my tongue…. Wing Kong Exchange. His business card said it was a wholesale import-export company.” 

“Isn’t that that big warehouse down near the docks?” Sano asked. “The one that supplies tacky souvenirs to all the cheap tourist places? I think we almost got some of the bar decorations from them one year. That place is a dump; Katsu took one look at it and practically went through the wall to get back outside again. Spent the drive home muttering about gimcrack imports and factory conditions in third-world countries.” 

“Import… export….” Aoshi said slowly. 

“We’ve been looking at this the wrong way,” Kenshin realized. “What if _Gohei_ wasn’t the one who made the first move? What if somebody found out what he wanted most in life and offered it to him?” 

“You’re saying that the sword lessons _were_ the payment, and Gohei provided something else in return? Like that winter when Dad gave everybody at the Akebeko basic self-defense lessons in exchange for soup every weekend?” 

She wasn’t entirely certain she wanted to know what the mysterious other party had gotten from Gohei. Kaoru was pretty sure that whoever they were, they didn’t normally go around giving a two-bit hoodlum what he wanted most in life. Not unless they were getting something they wanted just as badly. 

“So, smuggling, right?” Sano asked. When everybody turned to look at him he said, “What? Boxes and boxes of plastic junk, nobody’s got time to inspect all of it, there’s always some customs guy who’ll look the other way if you just promise him a bottle of whatever’s being brought in… or so I’ve heard. On the television.” He reddened slightly. “I’m a bar owner, okay? I have a professional interest in the history of Prohibition. Also, classic gangsters are cool.” 

“I’m fairly certain Gohei Hiruma was not being deployed as a modern-day bootlegger,” Saitoh said disparagingly. “And we already know what arrangements were made to bring the Mugenjin into the country. But that doesn’t mean there weren’t other artifacts that didn’t need to be brought here once this location had been decided on and everything had been set in motion.” 

“Indeed. And now that we have a location, Hannya should be able to investigate more thoroughly.” 

“Yes, Captain. I will report back once I’ve completed an examination of the warehouse and its contents.” 

Hannya bowed gracefully and turned to walk into the shadowed corner of the training hall, fading into the darkness as he went. 

“The Mu--gin---what?” Sano asked. 

“ _Who_ exactly was hiring Gohei?” Megumi demanded at the same moment. 

Before anybody could attempt to answer either question-- or, more likely, could attempt to avoid either question-- Kaoru held up her hand. 

“Time out!” she said. “First, it is getting late, and some of us have work tomorrow morning. And some of us have work tonight, Sano, unless you’re planning on making Katsu work a double shift and then close the bar down. Second, it’s going to make a lot more sense if we have Hannya’s information before we talk about anything else, right? I mean, at the moment, you’re making educated guesses about Gohei getting sword lessons in exchange for unspecified smuggling services, and ending up as a zombie because his contract had some kind of “in case of accident, break the bonds of death” clause. But there isn’t any comfirmation yet, which means that we don’t actually _know_ whether that’s what happened. Third, and I can’t believe I’m saying this….I think Yahiko needs to be around for the rest of the discussion. And Misao, actually. And I’m not just saying that because otherwise they’re more likely to run off on their own and get into trouble. They’re involved; they deserve to hear first-hand.” 

“She’s right,” Saitoh remarked with something like a sigh. “We need more information to reach any definite conclusions-- even any speculative conclusions. And the other two deserve to know-- although, Ms Kamiya, I need hardly add that your brother’s academic performance had better not be affected.” 

“Frankly, sir, I think finding out that I would be his student teacher this year was more traumatic than this will be. You don’t have film from his elementary school performance in the periodic table musical extravaganza.” 

“Misao knows some of the story, but I will admit it would be easier if she was fully informed.” Aoshi said. 

“So when shall we three meet again? In thunder, lightening, or after Megumi is done with her hospital shift?” 

“Very funny. Speaking of weird siblings,” Megumi remarked, “doesn’t yours teach tomorrow afternoon?” 

Kaoru grimaced. “No, but you’re right; he’s working out the schedule with Jin-sensei. He should be done in time for dinner, though--or at least he will be if I ask. I can pick him up and we can meet at the apartment.”

Kenshin nodded. “Aoshi, you bring Misao-- and tell Hannya where we’ll be meeting. Saitoh, I’m assuming that you know where it is?” 

Saitoh nodded curtly. “If that’s everything, Battousai, I will finish my patrol and head home. Just because _this_ idiot is off the street doesn’t mean that they all are.” 

With that, he turned and headed briskly outside, not looking back. 

Aoshi said, “I’ll try to find Gohei’s supposed dojo before the meeting-- there may be clues there as well. Once the rest of you have left, I’ll take care of the corpse. Megumi, just so you know what to expect: it seems that Mr. Hiruma’s identification tag was accidentally mis-read, and the body was sent to the teaching hospital. Fortunately, since he is not an eighty-year-old Caucasian female, the autopsy class should notice the mistake fairly quickly. You might want to practice sounding surprised and relieved when you’re informed that he’s been found.” 

“I’ll be surprised if I hear about it officially before hearing about it through the hospital grapevine, so it shouldn’t take much practice. Come on, Rooster-head; you’ve still got some explaining to do.” 

Ignoring Sano’s protests, Megumi dragged him out to the car. 

Kaoru watched them leave, amused. Then she suddenly realized what time it was and swore.

“Aoshi, thank you for… everything, and thank you on behalf of Megumi for corpse disposal, and I’ll see you tomorrow; Kenshin, thank you for fighting zombies, and, and, ace detective work; now, if you’ll excuse me, I promised Yahiko I would bring him fresh clothes and I’m sure he’s wondering what’s going on!”

With that, she dashed back to the house, trying to decide whether she should call Dr. Gensai’s house. She didn’t want her brother to worry; she knew he must be worried already. She also didn’t want to wake up Ayame and Suzume, or make Dr. Gensai worry because she’d telephoned instead of just showing up.

_‘Well_ , _I did say that I might not get there until after they were in bed… I’ll have to tell Yahiko about the zombies, but I can just tell Dr. Gensai that I got caught up in dojo work and lost track of time.’_

“Are you sure you don’t need any help, kitten?”

Kaoru spun around, startled, barely missing Kenshin with one of the duffel bags she’d packed.

“I’m fine, it’s… it’s better now that I know what happened to Dad,” she admitted. “I mean, now that Gohei’s been stopped. Thank you.”

Kenshin looked like he wanted to say something else, but wasn’t quite sure where to start.

“Um, Kenshin? I have to go to Dr. Gensai’s first, but… do you need a ride back to the apartments?”

He smiled at her. “I appreciate the offer, but, like Saitoh, I still have some work to do this evening.”

Leaning forward, he kissed her, a brief press of his lips against hers that nonetheless sent sparks down her spine.

“I’ll see you tomorrow evening,” he murmured as he pulled back, tucking a stray lock of hair behind her ear.

Watching him leave, Kaoru was momentarily distracted. Shaking her head, she got back to the task at hand.

_‘Right_. _So, how exactly am I supposed to tell my little brother that his science teacher is a demon…_

_…and will Yahiko find that more or less believable than Mr. Fujita being married and having children?’_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter: A long-expected party. Err. Explanation (Misao would like to note that just because it’s one doesn’t mean it can’t be the other).
> 
> In this chapter I don’t own: “Hamlet,” the Scottish play (or any other Shakespeare), Lo Pan’s shop from “Big Trouble in Little China,” Dr. Carrie Allen from “Tru Calling” (I borrowed her because I needed an annoying morgue worker), any Star Trek medical professionals, or The Karate Kid.
> 
> Note: Talking chapters are even harder to write than zombie fight scenes, I tell you.
> 
> Additional notes: The other reason that I went with the version of Gohei from the anime and not the manga, actually, was that he turns up a bit later on in the episode, “Run, Yahiko! Get the Reverse-Blade Sword Back!” and talks about how he’s become a merchant and has made a lot of money (something, he notes, that he should have done before). And, of course, Sano’s reaction to Hannya is a riff off of his reaction to Captain Sagara’s ghost. Hannya being a ghost is at least somewhat canon-- he appears to Misao in a dream and tells her that Aoshi will be coming back to the Aoiya.


	38. Council of War

“And then I pointed out that we’d probably better wait until we could talk to everybody at once.”

Kaoru took a deep breath and risked a glance at her father, his chest rising and falling as various machines blinked and beeped faintly.

“Anyway, um, I’m sorry that I haven’t been keeping you up to date, entirely. It’s not exactly easy to tell somebody that you’ve been dealing with assorted supernatural problems.” She made a vague gesture over to where her brother was sitting. “I mean, I didn’t even want to tell Yahiko-- yes, Yahiko, I realize that was very wrong of me, and I should feel very badly about it.” Sensing his glare, she continued, “In the future I will try very hard not to be attacked by anything non-human unless Yahiko is also there to share in the fun.”

“Darn right,” the teen muttered under his breath. He was clearly unhappy in the hospital room, and Kaoru wondered if he was remembering their mother’s long illness, or just thinking about their father.

Standing up, she said, “Well, Dad, we have to go. Like I said, I suggested that we wait until we could talk to everybody- which means it’s going to be tonight. Yahiko and I just have time to go to the grocery store for snacks and then get the apartment ready. We’ll be back tomorrow, okay? I mean, we know you want to hear how lessons are going, especially since _somebody_ is teaching the beginners’ classes on his own for the first time. I bet by this time next week, he’s even going to have the first practice bouts set up with Jin-sensei’s students!”

“Kaaaooorrruuuu!” Yahiko managed to look both proud that she had faith in him and embarrassed that his big sister was talking about him to their dad.

“I’ll be sure to give you a full report!” Kaoru said cheerfully, waving at the unconscious figure on the bed as if he could hear her.

‘ _Maybe he can,’_ she thought, _‘And Dad, even if you can’t hear me, Yahiko can-- and it’s good to give him something else to think about.’_

As the two siblings departed from the hospital, Kaoru said, “Right, here’s the plan; you take one side of the grocery store and I’ll take the other; with any luck, we can be out of there in half an hour.”

“Got it! Umm… do demons have any dietary restrictions or anything?”

* * *

In the end, it had taken a bit more time, but at least she’d gotten everything ready. True, she hadn’t so much cleaned as frantically pushed clutter into the closet, but at least the furniture and coffee table were cleared off, the apartment smelled comfortingly of baking, and overall everything looked appropriate for a serious discussion.

“No, Yahiko, I mean real napkins, _not_ a roll of paper towels that you just put on the table,” Kaoru called out over her shoulder as she headed into the kitchen.

“I still don’t understand why a council of war needs this many snacks,” Misao remarked, grabbing a handful of chips as she perched on the counter.

“I wouldn’t say ‘need’ so much as….”

Their conversation was interrupted by the noise of Kaoru’s doorbell and the sound of Yahiko opening the door. Grabbing the package of napkins, she headed back and tossed them at her brother’s head.

“Thank God I got here in time,” Megumi said crisply, pushing past her cousin and heading into the kitchen.

“Um… hi, Megumi… hi, Sano?” Kaoru said, slightly confused.

“Hey, Missy,” Sano said, “Where do you want the beer?”

“Okay, the beer totally makes sense,” Misao said as Megumi strode purposefully towards the oven.

“Megumi! Those aren’t done yet! And don’t give me that look, I set timers. Multiple timers. And Misao has been here the entire time, AND those aren’t even homemade, I got some of those pre-made packs where you just pull individual cookies apart and plunk them down on a cookie sheet.”

The doctor looked skeptical, but contended herself with just turning on the oven light and double-checking the timers. Kaoru would have made a sarcastic remark, but even she had to admit that her cousin’s caution was probably a good idea.

“I got out a plate already; you can just put them on there after the timer goes off. Misao, stop eating the Doritos.”

‘Jeez, Missy, how many bags of chips did you buy?”

“Umm… all of them?”

The conversation was suddenly interrupted by the noise of three different oven timers going off at once.

* * *

As Megumi explained to Kaoru that cookies needed to cool on a wire rack for ten minutes before being piled on a plate, Sano surreptitiously grabbed a bowl of potato chips and headed back out to where Yahiko was plonking down piles of napkins.

“You doin’ okay?” he asked.

“Yeah… I think Kaoru’s more nervous than I am.”

“Worried about her boyfriend, or worried about her boss?”

Yahiko gestured towards the kitchen, “She just bought twenty bags of chips, so I’m gonna go with ‘both.’”

“You scared?”

“Nah. I mean, not like I’m going to get fired from science class or get detention on account of zombies. Besides which, if Mr. Fujita hasn’t run her out of the classroom by now, I’d say Kaoru isn’t either.” He looked up at Sano and explained, “Yutaro and I did some research before Kaoru started her student teaching. Mr. Fujita kind of has a reputation. The last guy didn’t even make it two weeks.” His expression turned thoughtful. “Guess that’s kind of a clue he’s a demon, huh.”

Sano snorted. “Yeah, right, like every mean teacher automatically has to be a demon….”

As Sano trailed off, he and Yahiko exchanged slightly nervous looks.

* * *

It wasn’t that Megumi was staking out the door, exactly- it was just that she was positioning herself carefully, so that she would be the one actually answering it. It hadn’t even been twenty-four hours since she had learned that demons and other supernatural creatures not only existed, but that two of her best friends were dating and/or working for them. The fact that her fiancé had gotten himself in supernatural trouble at one point was less of a surprise; Sano wasn’t so much a weirdness magnet as repeatedly voted “most likely to get into the most ridiculous possible trouble.” Almost being sacrificed to demons probably wouldn’t make his personal top ten list, especially if you counted that time he and Katsu decided to go on a cross-country microbrewery road trip.

The fact that staying out of the kitchen and away from the food meant that she had some time to herself to think was an added bonus.

_“Just because some things in my life have turned out to be supernatural doesn’t mean that every weird thing that has ever happened to me has been supernatural,”_ she reminded herself. _“Although since there COULD be supernatural problems, it would make sense to have some supernatural protections._ ”

When the doorbell rang, she carefully checked the peephole- after all, ordinary precautions didn’t fall by the wayside just because there was a set of exciting new dangers to worry about- to confirm that Aoshi, Kenshin, and Kaoru’s boss were standing in the hallway. They were almost lurking, but not quite.

As she was greeting them, Sano came into the entranceway, cheerfully offering to take their coats.

“Everybody else is in the kitchen, ‘cause that’s where the food is. I think Kaoru’s gonna have to send everybody home with bags of potato chips as souvenirs.”

Megumi snorted. “Or you could give her money and take them for the bar; I think she hasn’t quite realized that she spent her entire grocery budget for the week on snacks.”

From Sano’s expression, he hadn’t quite realized that either, and had been cheerfully expecting to load up on free food.

Aoshi and Kenshin followed Sano through to the other room, leaving Megumi alone with... Saitoh, Kaoru had called him.

Striving to keep her tone casual, she said, “I don’t expect that this is the main goal tonight, but if you have any suggestions for charms, or ways to keep unwanted demons out of, say, your average American apartment and/or bar…”

He looked at her and raised an eyebrow.

Megumi exhaled and tried to think of how to phrase things. “I don’t know the rules, and I don’t know what the dangers are likely to be, which is very frustrating- but I’m pretty sure that Kenshin is the type to have done a bunch of protective stuff around Kaoru and Yahiko without telling them what it is or how it works. Aoshi would probably at least talk about what he’d done with Misao, mostly because I’m betting her grandfather has done something already. Sano and Katsu will solve anything by trying to beat it up or blow it up, which seems like it would be bad for business- and I’m not thrilled with the possibility of more zombies turning up.”

“Zombies are very unlikely.”

“And yet I note that they _literally just happened_. I’m not thrilled with any of the possibilities that involve the words “monsters” and “hospital,” or “evil supernatural forces” and “where I live.”

“Your caution is refreshing,” he remarked. “There are some steps we can take, although it’s going to be more on the level of personal protection than an entire building. Shielding something the size of a hospital attracts its own kind of attention.”

“And,” he added as he turned towards the kitchen, “I will remind those idiots that not telling somebody you’re protecting them is asking for trouble.”

* * *

Kaoru didn’t have a lot of experience hosting parties- and wasn’t sure that a planning meeting to deal with a supernatural threat even counted- but she felt like the first five minutes or so were going very smoothly. Everybody had gotten food, and something to drink, and nobody had started throwing anything.

Of course, Sano and Yahiko had grabbed several bowls of chips between them, and Sano seemed to have brought an entire six pack to the couch….

As she sat down next to Kenshin, she realized that everybody was looking at her- them- him, either because he was the one who knew what was going on, or because the other people who knew what was going on preferred to let him start with the explanations so that they could jump in with corrections later.

“Should somebody call this meeting to order or something?” Misao wondered “Because, you know, I have a lot of questions. Like… who was Gohei working for? What was up with those guys who attacked us in the parking garage?”

“Or outside of the library!” Yahiko chimed in.

“And what did you find at Gohei’s warehouse-slash-dojo-slash creepy compound?” Kaoru asked.

“Warehouse?” Aoshi asked, looking puzzled- but before he could say anything else, Kenshin put his drink down, carefully, and paused for a moment, clearly gathering his thoughts.

“One of the most important things to keep in mind,” he said, choosing his words carefully, “is that…. Well, some people are born demons… some people achieve demonhood, and some people….”

“Have demonhood thrust upon them?”

“A simplification, but not completely inaccurate,” Saitoh remarked. “The point that Battousai was trying to make is that the latter two options tend not to happen nowadays. Not successfully, at any rate. Not just because of us, mind you, but because people tend not to believe in that sort of thing- so even if they get into the kind of situation where they _might_ become a demon-- and that doesn’t happen as often either-- they tend _not_ to.”

“Actually, I was _trying_ to make the point that there was a time when wars tended to involve all three. But what Saitoh says isn’t wrong either.” Kaoru was startled to realize that Kenshin was nervous, his hands clasped together tightly as he tried to figure out where to start.

Exhaling, he said, “What’s happening now… it started a long time ago. At the time, we were still in Japan, trying to deal with the Bakumatsu….”

“Wait, you mean the nineteenth-century Bakumatsu? As in, expel the barbarians, revere the Emperor, fall of the Shogunate, _that_ Bakumatsu?”

At Kenshin’s tight nod, Kaoru sighed. “Okay. I guess I must really be getting used to having you around, because that doesn’t bother me anywhere near as much as it should.”

She was sure she wasn’t imagining the way his shoulders relaxed ever so slightly at her response.

“When Himura says, ‘dealing with the Bakumatsu,” Saitoh said sardonically, “he’s neglecting to note that we were not, in fact, all on the same side.”

“In the larger sense, we were….”

“In _absolutely no_ sense, Battousai.”

“Okaaaay,” Kaoru said again, trying to make calming hand gestures to prevent the conversation from heading even further into threats and blustering.

Fortunately, Aoshi stepped in. “Both Himura and Saitoh are correct. We all had different jobs, but similar overall concerns. I was part of the Oniwabanshū, the Shogun’s elite spies and guards for Edo Castle. When I was fifteen, I was put in charge. I was… still human at the time, but my skills and talents had earned a great deal of recognition.”

Misao looked like she was holding back a stream of questions only by dint of significant effort and another handful of chips. Yahiko’s eyes were as wide as dinner plates at being in the same room as an actual ninja.

Saitoh sighed and remarked, “Well, if we’re providing biographies… I was part of the Shinsengumi. We defended Kyoto. From, among other things, him.” He inclined his head towards Kenshin, who glared back with narrowed eyes.

After a moment of tension, Megumi said carefully, “So, two of you were on the side of the Shogunate, in different capacities… and… Kenshin was…”

“Choshu,” Kenshin answered. “Choshu Ishin Shishi. I worked for Katsura Kogoro, in and around Kyoto. Mostly as an assassin.”

Several things clicked together in Kaoru’s head. “Oh…. That’s where you got your nickname, isn’t it?”

He nodded.

“Huh. You know, I had actually wondered about that. I mean, whether somebody gave it to you or you made it up because you thought it would impress the cool kids.”

Sano looked puzzled around a mouthful of cookie. Swallowing, he asked, “Hang on-- you mean you were doing the same thing you do now, except you were just on different sides?”

“That,” said Kenshin, “is a complicated issue.” He took a drink and continued, choosing his words carefully.

“In spite of my… in spite of my background, I was not actually there primarily as a demon hunter. It certainly wasn’t my official job, or what Katsura asked me to do. I believed in a cause. A way to make the country better, to make peoples’ lives better. Even if the path to get there was soaked in blood; I was fighting for a new era. And those on the other side believed in their cause-- at least, the best of them did.”

Even Yahiko could tell that Saitoh was just barely refraining from rolling his eyes at Kenshin’s noble sentiments.

Exhaling, Kenshin continued, “What you have to understand is that, in many ways, the Bakumatsu was the last war of its kind. The rest of the world had forgotten about the supernatural, or given up on it, at least for the battlefield. There were new weapons-- deadly weapons-- that everybody wanted. But in Japan… well, we had had one regime, for hundreds of years, with roots that went even deeper than that-- and they hadn’t forgotten. Not all of them. Nobody was going to do anything in the open, and I doubt there were ever official strategy meetings about calling up demons on the battlefield, but….”

Saitoh picked up the train of conversation, “For those who believed, the supernatural was another tool to be used to defeat a dangerous group of rebellious fanatics, no matter who might get messily trampled on the way.”

Yahiko looked slightly green. “You mean they were setting demons on people?”

“Among other things.”

“Don’t sound so self-righteous, Battousai-- your side was just as guilty of trying to gain that kind of advantage. You’re just lucky Katsura never figured out your real nature-- or at least that he never tried to take advantage of it.”

“Katsura didn’t condone using supernatural forces,” Kenshin said quietly. “Especially after… events made it clear how high the costs could truly be.”

“Besides which,” Aoshi noted, with a pointed glance in Saitoh’s direction, “It’s not like there weren’t demons fighting on both sides anyway, simply out of personal convictions.”

Hannya spoke up suddenly from the corner, momentarily startling several of the room’s occupants. “What people called up over the course of that war was nowhere close to the horrors that could have been let loose. Remember, Captain, we were there when they gave you the tour of what was beneath the castle.”

“And you were there to stop me when I was almost mad enough to think about unleashing it all,” Aoshi said, his expression tinged with melancholy.

“Captain, if you had truly wanted to go down that road, we would not have been able to stop you. You didn’t do it because you knew that it wasn’t the answer.”

“Are we here to reminisce, or are we here to make plans?” Saitoh interrupted, scowling. If he had to bet on it, Yahiko would have put money on at least three-quarters of his teacher’s vexation stemming from not being allowed to smoke in the apartment.

“It’s not unconnected,” Kenshin replied. “What happened after the war, what’s happening now… we can’t understand one without the other, and you know it.”

Saitoh’s scowl grew even blacker, but he held his tongue.

Aoshi cleared his throat and said, “To make this brief, then. When Edo Castle surrendered, we of the Oniwabanshū lost our reason for existing. I don’t mean that we were merely denied our chance to fight; I mean that what we had guarded was no longer there. A new regime, a new world, new ways… many of us could find other work, of course, but there was a group who could not. They had sought to go beyond what was possible for mere humans, and there are some changes that cannot be undone. Under my leadership, the five of us hired ourselves out to whoever had the coin. Finally, we took a job with an entrepreneur named Kanryū. On the surface, he smiled and charmed and held glittering parties, and it was no different-- I convinced myself it was no different-- from any of our other jobs. Even if the client was a greedy, social-climbing parvenu with neither honor nor morals.”

When he seemed unwilling to continue, Hannya spoke up. “We soon learned that the surface was a deception. The man wasn’t satisfied with being a rich merchant. He was involved in the drug trade-- not just trafficking, actually hiring people to create new drugs for him.”

Aoshi’s tone was bitter as he looked at Misao. “Don’t think that we were heroes, or that realizing we worked for a drug dealer made us all have a crisis of conscience,” he said. “I told myself that the drugs weren’t important, that as long as we had a job, and opponents we could fight for our employer, that the rest didn’t matter. I don’t know how much longer I would have gone on deluding myself and leading us all further astray from the true ideals of the Oniwabanshū, but Kanryū finally went too far.”

Putting down his drink and picking up the thread of the story, Kenshin said, “The man he’d been using to make his drugs got greedy, and Kanryū had him executed in a fit of pique. Of course, that left him without anybody who had the knowledge to reproduce the formula. What Kanryū didn’t realize was that his clever doctor had created a new form of opium using a mix of black magic with normal chemistry. He couldn’t figure out why his new employees kept spontaneously combusting when they tried to replicate it. I was passing through Tokyo when I heard about what was going on, and decided that he had to be stopped before somebody opened a demonic gate by accident.”

“Did you… help Kenshin?” Misao asked Aoshi hesitantly.

The sound he made might have been a laugh. “No. Not until the end. Not until it was too late. I was young, and stupid, and all I could see was the chance for one last glorious battle, the fight that we had never gotten during the Bakamatsu. But Kanryū didn’t see it quite that way, of course. He was furious when I told him that fighting the legendary Battousai was more important to us than he and his disgusting business were. Instead of grabbing what he could from his estate and fleeing, he got his newest toy out and came back to test it. I don’t know how he got his hands on a Gatling gun, and I don’t really care-- before we could react, he opened fire. It was over so fast, I couldn’t… I didn’t….”

Misao grasped his hand in both of hers. Part of her wanted to get closer to him, but she didn’t want to interrupt, or make him feel like he had to take the time to talk to her specifically when the entire group had so many things to discuss.

Hannya said, “We gave our lives willingly, Captain. It’s what we were trained for-- what all of us in the Oniwabanshū were trained for. We knew it was the only way that you- and Himura-- could have a chance at defeating Kanryū once and for all. And you did. Imagine what would have happened if he’d succeeded in creating a drug that relied on black magic-- or if a portal had been opened, or a bargain struck. It was worth the sacrifice to ensure that that didn’t happen.”

Somehow, Kaoru got the feeling that this wasn’t a new argument. Before Aoshi could engage in more self-recrimination, or her supervisor could get even crankier, she asked, “What happened afterwards?”

“Kanryū was turned over to the proper authorities. Fortunately, he was too much of an idiot to cause any more problems on his own.” Kenshin answered. “I stayed in Tokyo for a while, but then I kept wandering, trying to learn the contours of the new era I’d fought for.”

_‘To see if it had been worth it,’_ hung unspoken in the air.

“And I buried my four comrades,” Aoshi said. “And immediately started looking for ways to bring them back, whatever the cost. It was in the course of trying to become strong enough to achieve my goals that I met Makoto Shishio.”

“About damn time,” Saitoh muttered under his breath.

“The demon that guy mentioned outside of the restaurant?” Kaoru asked.

“Yes,” Kenshin answered. “He had been part of the Bakumatsu as well, but not out of conviction. He joined the Ishin Shishi as my replacement because he liked the killing. Even his employers could sense how dangerous he was- when the war ended, they had him shot and set on fire. Of course, they assumed they were dealing with a human. He was horribly burned, but he survived.”

“To be fair,” Aoshi remarked, “he was probably human enough when he started out.”

Saitoh’s expression was skeptical, but he refrained from actual comment.

Kenshin continued. “The Meiji government was relentlessly focused on creating a stronger country, one that wouldn’t be a target for Western imperialism, like China had been. It was a new era- one where the supernatural was less… welcome, I suppose.”

“Aww, no more magical government ninjas? Err…. sorry, Aoshi.” Sano said sheepishly.

Saitoh looked like he was barely holding onto his patience as he said, brusquely, “Some of us found perfectly good jobs in law enforcement.”

“Not by admitting you weren’t human you didn’t,” Kenshin snapped back. From the way that he took a deep breath and briefly pinched the top of his nose, it was fairly obvious that Saitoh wasn’t the only one barely holding onto his patience.

“To get back to the main point,” Kenshin said, “the three of us spent the first ten years of the new era trying to find how we fit in. You’ve heard Aoshi’s story…. Saitoh changed his name and… well, _officially_ he was an ordinary police officer in the former imperial capital, and I…”

“Wandered around aimlessly like a penniless vagabond?” Saitoh suggested.

Kenshin looked like he wanted to argue, but exhaled deeply instead. “More or less,” he admitted. “I had no desire to become part of the new government.” Before Saitoh could say anything, Kenshin said, “Yes, I am aware how little it would have taken for the new regime to decide I needed to be eliminated, thank you; I was paying at least some attention to what was happening. By the time Shishio made his reappearance, half of the people I’d fought alongside were convinced I was dead.”

“It was rather a surprise to meet the legendary assassin so many years later,” Hannya remarked.

“Shishio knew,” Aoshi added. “He was… vexed, that he wasn’t the one to break the news to me, in fact.”

Misao clearly wanted to jump in with questions about Aoshi’s connection with a supposedly-dead bloodthirsty replacement assassin, but refrained.

Realizing that he’d given himself an opening to tell his story, Aoshi continued. “After Kanryū, I had two goals. Obsessions. First, I was determined to fight Battousai again, and beat him. Second… I wanted my… my friends back. Even though the new government was ignorant or deliberately ignoring the supernatural, it was still there- and there were plenty of ways to get power if you didn’t care much how you did it. I burned away the last of my humanity and thought it was well-spent. But I still wasn’t able to call more than ghosts, and only one at a time. When Shishio’s subordinate approached me, with a promise to provide me with the opponent I wanted and the opportunities I needed, I am ashamed to say that I didn’t hesitate.”

“He… wanted you to bring your friends back?” Misao asked tentatively.

“He wanted me to raise the dead of the Bakumatsu and send them rampaging across Kyoto.”

“Oh…... that… that would have been…. bad.”

Saitoh took over the explanation. “His goal was to watch the new era tear itself apart and replace it with one where humans would become an underclass of the weak to be preyed on by the strong. By the time Shinomori was involved, Shishio had already collected an elite group of mostly-supernatural accomplices, ranging from those who just wanted to feed off of chaos to those who had been mistreated by the supposedly-golden Meiji restoration. 

“So, what, he took out ads saying, “Evil demon, likes pina coladas, getting caught in the rain; interested in chaos and world-domination, seeks like-minded henchthugs for mayhem and… ow, pain, ow, Megumi, okay, okay.”

Kaoru wasn’t sure exactly what Megumi had done, but her brother shut up.

“Fortunately, Shinomori’s necromantic skills weren’t quite up to what Shishio wanted.”

Aoshi looked offended. “Raising corpses that have been in the ground for over a decade, or that were cremated…”

“I’m not saying that anybody else could have done it; I’m saying that the fact that you couldn’t do it immediately upon command gave us time to stop that madman.” Aoshi closed his mouth on whatever other protest he’d been about to make, and Saitoh continued. “Frankly, what you and he were able to do was bad enough. It didn’t take me long to realize that this was not just another disgruntled ex-samurai who was upset that he’d lost his status and was going to have to earn a living. After that,” he gestured at Kenshin, “it seemed like an Ishin Shishi mess should get cleaned up by an Ishin Shishi assassin. So I tracked down Himura and asked him. Nicely.”

Kenshin, clearly refusing to rise to the bait, picked up the thread. “I had spent ten years wandering and avoiding violence- I had sworn…” He paused, then continued carefully. “I had sworn not to shed human blood again; one of the great swordsmiths of the age had given me a special blade to make that possible. But… the level of my skill, at that time, with that sword, when faced with opponents like Shishio and his minions…. It wasn’t enough. I found a better sword, but I also needed… I needed to return to my teacher and complete my training in our sword style.”

There were many questions that sprang to mind, but Kaoru remained silent through sheer force of will, glaring at Misao and Sano for good measure. She could tell from the latter’s expression that this wasn’t one of the stories Kenshin had shared at a bar over the years.

“He called me every kind of idiot- that wasn’t new- and said that I should never have left- which wasn’t a surprise. Um. We had fought at the outset of the Bakumatsu because all I could see was the way that humans were suffering in the conflict, and I felt that I had a responsibility to help. He agreed to complete my training if I swore that after Shishio had been dealt with, I would return to take up my responsibilities as the sole successor to the school, fighting against supernatural evils rather than getting involved in human conflicts. And… I agreed.”

Aoshi said, “Shishio had set up his main headquarters at a shrine, hoping that he could make use of the energies there. I don’t think it was working, frankly, but it impressed his low-level followers. Since I wasn’t having any luck raising the dead, he had me working on another project, trying to recreate what the Oniwabanshū had been able to do to create fighters with supernatural skill. I was somewhat successful. Eventually.” He laughed bitterly. “It’s easy enough to create monsters if you don’t care about morals. Unfortunately, it gave him a new idea. He decided that if the wartime dead were too old to raise, what I really needed was a new batch of corpses- and if he could combine that with chaos, so much the better.”

“He decided to light Kyoto on fire,” Saitoh said, bluntly. “Some idiot had sold him a warship, and he was looking forward to sailing around in the harbor while his teams started the blaze at multiple locations across the city.”

Yahiko, who had done a book report about the Great Kantō Earthquake in junior high school, blanched and put his bowl of chips carefully back down on the table

“Fortunately for us,” he continued, “Himura had managed to befriend the remaining Kyoto Oniwabanshū, and they provided substantial assistance, even after Shinomori tried to murder them all…”

Misao blinked, shocked, while Aoshi looked miserable.

“Yes,” he admitted, and everybody in the room knew that he was only talking to her. “I… I knew that they still had secrets, from before the war, and was convinced that they would share them if I just explained why I wanted them, what I wanted to do… in my madness, I didn’t listen when they told me that my path was wrong, that I was being a dangerous fool. My Owls- the monsters I’d created- were beaten back, which just made me angrier, and more determined, and the only reason my mentor’s blood isn’t on my hands is because he was just too stubborn to die.”

Picking up the thread of the conversation, Kenshin continued, “After we stopped the fire, Saitoh and I went to the shrine. Shishio had dared us to do it, as his warship was sinking.”

“And I’m sure it didn’t sound at all like a trap,” Megumi muttered.

“Of course it was a trap. That didn’t mean we could avoid it,” Saitoh said sharply. “In addition to the rank-and-file, and Shinomori- Shishio had a special group called the Ten Swords. Getting rid of them was one of our primary objectives. Himura had beaten one of them when he got his new blade, and two of them had left after the attempted fire. They were creatures more suited to the wilderness than the city; I tracked them down on Hokkaido years later. Shishio selected the ones he considered the strongest and set them in our way.” Saitoh smiled thinly, with no amusement in his expression. “He sent the rest to attack the Oniwabanshū, but we had put precautions in place.”

“What kind of precautions,” Misao asked.

“Very annoying ones,” Kenshin muttered under his breath.

Ignoring Kenshin, Saitoh continued, “We fought them- well, I fought them; Himura’s strategy was to beat them up while arguing about the morality of their actions. Shinomori joined us eventually.”

“Himura’s arguments were very persuasive,” Aoshi remarked drily.

“Shishio was waiting for us in the heart of the shrine complex, along with his chief bootlicker, Hoji, and his… hmm…. “mistress” would have been the term, but I’m sure there’s something else nowadays. She was a former high-level geisha, and probably the only woman he had ever had feelings for. She ended up dying when Shishio stabbed her from behind in order to wound Himura.”

“Her last words were about how happy she was that she could finally be useful to him,” Kenshin added, trying and failing to keep his tone neutral.

The humans in the room all stared.

“Ummmm…” Misao started.

“Wow,” said Yahiko, sounding disgusted.

Kaoru opened her mouth to say something, but then closed it again. ‘ _What do you even say to that?_ ’ she wondered.

“The final battle with Shishio was an inferno of steel and magic,” Aoshi said solemnly, clearly trying to get the conversation back on track. “He had called on dark powers that even I had never come across, and they gave him unbelievable strength, for a price.”

“Fifteen minutes of absolute power,” Kenshin explained. “After that, if he hadn’t killed his opponents, he would spontaneously combust.”

“Ummmm…” Yahiko started.

“Wow,” said Misao, sounding disgusted.

“I don’t even know what to say to that,” Megumi said. “Either as a doctor or as a person.”

From the corner, Hannya remarked, “Demons enjoy making bargains; it’s always good to keep that in mind, if you ever have to deal with one.”

“As bargains go,” Saitoh said, “it fit well with his overall ideas. The strong survive by feeding on the weak- and if you can’t defeat your opponents in battle, you are weak. I don’t think he regretted it, even as he burned. Of course, that might be because he assumed we were all going to die in the fire.”

Sano raised his hand, then looked embarrassed at having acted like he was in a classroom. “Okay, so…. crazy lady cheerfully gets stabbed to death; crazy guy cheerfully burns to death… so what the heck is the deal now? They’ve been dead for over a hundred years; is this, like, crazy followers?”

“He’s trying to come back from the dead,” Kenshin said bluntly. “He’s been able to amass enough power in whatever Hell he was sent to that he has followers there, and his plan is to return and establish a kingdom of the strongest- supernatural and humans, although I suspect the latter would not remain so for long.”

Sano opened his mouth to say something else, but Misao jumped into the conversation first. “How in the Hell... um… I mean, why here? This does not seem like the logical place to start, you know, setting up supernatural kingdoms. It’s not like it’s Sunnydale. Or even Cleveland.”

“The location is secondary,” Aoshi explained. “There are places where it would have been more difficult, and places where it would have been easier- but no place where it would have been possible unless he had his sword.”

“The sword exhibit,” Kaoru groaned.

“Exactly. After the battle at the shrine, we made sure that his sword was locked up under as many sacred protections as we could.” Kenshin said. “Nobody was even supposed to remember it by this point- unfortunately, there were enough clues that a true devotee of the blade could figure it out. Probably with some subtle guidance. Then all Shishio had to do was arrange for accidents to befall the Mugenjin’s caretakers, leaving it without anybody who would understand why it absolutely could not leave the grounds, let alone be transported across the sea to be displayed in public.”

“So, if he stole the sword from the museum- hang on, if he’s in Hell, who actually stole the sword? I mean, it’s not like the... what did you call them? The… Swords? It’s not like they’re still… oohhhhhhhhh.” Kaoru said, turning to Kenshin, her tone one of sudden and unwelcome realization. “They’re not human; they wouldn’t just die conveniently of old age, would they….”

“Some of them were. Some of them did. One of them should have, but seems to have figured out how not to.”

“That broomhead’s probably only still around because he’s too stupid to die.” Saitoh said acerbically. “And, yes, Himura, he did work for me for a while, and then just wandered off when he got distracted. I assumed he’d gotten himself killed in some spectacularly idiotic way; it was a surprise to me when he turned up again here.”

“At any rate, we’re not facing ten of them- and the assistance they’ve gotten here seems to just be greedy humans who don’t know what they’re dealing with.”

“Not entirely.” Aoshi looked almost embarrassed. “Soujiro seems to have figured out how to make more Owls.” Before anybody could ask the obvious questions, he continued, “The Owls were my most successful project when I was working for Shishio. Resurrected corpses, with certain magical modifications that made them formidable fighters. Not particularly intelligent, but hard to kill.”

“And Soujiro was Shishio’s most successful project,” Kenshin murmured. “A lost child, abused by his family- Shishio cultivated his fear, and his rage, and turned him into a weapon. I’m not sure the boy even realized when he stopped being human. I tried… I tried to help him, but it didn’t work. Whatever answers he found in his travels led him back to Shishio. He’s the most dangerous opponent we’re facing- at least until Shishio returns.”

“That’s who we met, isn’t it? Outside the restaurant?”

Kenshin nodded, and Kaoru managed not to shiver, while promising herself that she’d take some time to freak out later.

Megumi, showing admirable restraint, didn’t ask either of them for more explanation. Instead, her expression intent and businesslike, she asked, “Okay. First, how many of these “Swords” are here? Second, how are they going to bring back Shishio? Third, how do we stop them?”

Before any of the three demons could say anything, Misao jumped in, saying, “Let’s just assume that you all gave your speeches about how we are mere mortals who don’t know what we’re facing, etc., etc., and then we countered by pointing out that we pretty much all have targets on our backs anyway, and this is our home too, and then you argued that even Kaoru and Yahiko don’t have centuries of sword-fighting experience, and then we said that there has to at least be research and other pre-fighting stuff that we could help with. And you agreed, because we are persuasive and you are not dumb.”

“Good speech,” Kaoru whispered, and Misao flashed her a bright grin before claiming more snacks.

Saitoh, looking more amused than annoyed, grunted, but didn’t say anything. Aoshi merely looked at Misao, clearly struggling not to show his feelings.

Kenshin, who had been hoping that one of the other two would talk about the more technical, magical aspects of Shishio’s plan- at least what they had deduced about those aspects- tried not to sound too annoyed as he explained, “He needs the sword as an anchor- it’s a significantly magical artifact, and it… acquired a lot of power over the years that he was using it.” How exactly the Mugenjin had acquired that power went unspoken, but the implications were extremely disturbing, and very violent. “If we’d thought to destroy it… I’m not sure we could have done it; swords like that have ways of coming back.”

“Toss it into the fires of Mount Doom?” Sano suggested. Yahiko gave him a high five. Everybody else ignored them.

Kenshin continued, “In addition to the sword, he’ll need… well, whoever is performing the ritual will need whatever was left of his remains. I don’t know when, but somebody clearly went back to where that final battle took place and collected the ashes, then put them someplace where they could absorb supernatural power until the circumstances were right.”

“Probably Yumi’s ashes as well,” Saitoh remarked. His tone was carefully neutral, and Kaoru wondered whether he approved of Yumi’s ashes being included or not.

“Wait, so he wants to bring back his girlfriend too, the one he murdered?” Yahiko looked disturbed. “Does he think he’s going to need to stab somebody again, and wants to make sure it’s somebody who would be okay with it?”

Before Saitoh could say… well, anything, really, Kenshin cut in. “The one who would have done the collecting would have been Hoji- the one Saitoh called Shishio’s chief bootlicker. He was fanatically devoted to Shishio. He had the opportunity to shoot me and threw away his gun, because he was so convinced that Shishio would kill me within the fifteen minutes. Unfortunately, he was also a brilliant enough mind that the Meiji government offered him a job afterwards. He took it, but he was only biding his time until he could get enough resources together to escape while causing maximum damage within the government and maximum wealth for himself. He went overseas- to Hawai’i first, then to the United States. I strongly suspect that he made a pact with Shishio to extend his life, once the latter had gotten enough power in Hell.”

“It would make sense,” Saitoh noted. “Hoji would be thrilled to have his continued existence literally tied to that of his master.”

Kaoru thought that there was clearly a lot to unpack in that statement, but that this wasn’t the time.

Megumi, who was very focused on staying focused, said, “Okay- so, magical sword, plus ashes, plus….. what? I mean, is this a “the ritual must be carried out by a brace of virgins during the first full moon after the autumnal equinox” situation? Any day when Shishio doesn’t have a packed schedule of infernal meetings? I think I speak for all of us when I say that we’re hoping human sacrifice is not involved- I mean, I think I also speak for all of us when I say that we won’t be surprised, just, you know, hopeful.”

“New moon, not full moon.” Aoshi said. “After midnight, probably. Human sacrifice, probably not.” He winced and corrected himself. “Shishio isn’t trying to possess a human body, and he’s not something that would… eat people. He’s also going to be getting a lot of energy from the sword. But I can’t figure out a way that doesn’t involve using at least some human blood. Normally, I would say that Hoji would use his own blood- he’d be thrilled to be the one who gave up the essence of his own life to revive his master….”

“Wow, there’s a lot to unpack in that statement,” Misao said, slightly awed.

At Aoshi’s look, she bit her lip and was silent.

“However,” he continued, “I’m not sure whether Hoji can do that, since he’s bound himself to Shishio already. A bargain like that is very… well, he may or may not count as human for the purposes of the ritual. But I can’t see him being very happy with letting anybody else have the privilege of giving their life.”

“Soooooo much unpacking,” Misao murmured under her breath.

Megumi asked, intent, “Does the blood have to be fresh? I mean… can they just get blood from a blood bank or a hospital? Because now you’re talking about something that I could help with, if blood has gone missing.”

“I… am not sure,” Aoshi said, surprised. “My experience with necromancy was before blood banks. But it is worth investigating. And, yes, Ms Kamiya, that was Gohei Hiruma’s part of the bargain he made with Shishio. The container that the ashes were sealed in is a valuable antique by now- it was probably a valuable antique when Hoji first used them; he would have wanted something worthy of Shishio. Something that would need to be smuggled over if you didn’t want it to attract attention. And I suspect that Hoji arranged for other valuable pieces to find their way into Gohei’s cargo. Not just for the ritual- there must be plans for afterwards.”

“Secret underground lair with laser sharks?” Yahiko asked. Sano gave him a high-five. 

“Something like that,” Aoshi admitted. “But with fewer sharks and more priceless pieces of Japanese art.”

Kaoru wasn’t sure if Aoshi had gotten the reference and was ignoring it, or had completely missed it and was assuming that Yahiko was serious about the laser sharks.

“Who else have we got to worry about? I mean,” she started counting on her fingers. “Shishio and Yumi are dead, so they are presumably… less involved until after the ritual happens. Hoji, chief bootlicker and ritual mastermind… Soujiro, very creepy messenger guy…. “

“Henya,” Saitoh supplied, “Doesn’t seem to be around since he attacked Yahiko- which was not part of the plan, and which he probably got in serious trouble for. Can fly, and likes to taunt his opponents, but overall fairly weak.”

“Chou, of course,” Kenshin added, his tone thoughtful. “He’s obsessed with collecting swords, and Shishio probably promised him opportunities to do that. I almost can’t believe that he handed over the Mugenjin after he took it, but I suppose even Chou is afraid of Soujiro. Iwanbo… I’m not sure what happened to Iwanbo, actually.”

“He didn’t exist,” Aoshi interjected. “Iwanbo was a… a puppet, a sort of flesh doll, made by a creature named Gein. If he’s still alive, I think it’s safe to assume he’s part of the group. You should also check and see if there have been more corpses going missing from morgues, or reports of burial sites getting disturbed. Gein will need materials for his projects.”

‘Well, that’s the grossest thing that has been said tonight.” Kaoru shuddered. “Is that everybody? Well, everybody from Shishio’s original group?”

“Yes; the rest of the Ten Swords are gone -if they didn’t die in the battle, either they died of old age, or they retreated from society after their experiences with Shishio. He won’t have the kind of infantry that he did back then either.” Saitoh sounded almost disappointed. “He hasn’t had the time back in this world to recruit, and Hoji couldn’t have been sure which country the Mugenjin would end up in, not until very recently.”

“Not to mention that one of his groups of recruits got themselves killed. And then killed again,” Aoshi observed. “I suspect that Gohei over-sold his ability to recruit willing followers, and that everybody he was able to recruit was in the vans.”

“Wasn’t there a list of all his students wherever he was teaching them?”

“I….” Aoshi looked blankly puzzled. “If we had any idea where that was….”

“Wasn’t that what you were going to investigate?” Kaoru looked at Aoshi’s face, then at Kenshin and Saitoh. A chill ran up her spine as she realized that all three were looking back at her with slightly baffled expressions. “Um… okay…. We had this conversation. About Gohei’s warehouse….”

“Wing Kong exchange,” Megumi chimed in. “Cheap plastic junk imports, down by the docks.”

“Aoshi, you sent Hannya to investigate!” Misao exclaimed, her eyes wide.

Hannya, whose masked face looked even blanker than normal, said, “I have no recollection of that task.”

Sano looked from the ghost to the demons and back and said, “Well, this isn’t good. Because he definitely told you to go check out the warehouse- and he said he was going to try to find Gohei’s dojo.”

“ _Fake_ dojo.”

“Sorry, my mistake, missy- fake dojo that was definitely not representing a real martial arts tradition in any way, and was not worthy of whatever signage may or may not have been on its door.”

“Sano and Megumi and I were all there- Saitoh, you went off to patrol, Hannya went off to check out the warehouse, Aoshi went to look for the dojo, and Kenshin… um… also left. To patrol.”

Saitoh, Aoshi, and Kenshin all looked at each other.

“Huh,” Kenshin said. “Well, that’s interesting.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In this chapter I do not own: "Twelfth Night," "The Lord of the Rings," "Austin Powers," or even one shark with a freakin’ laser beam strapped to its head.


	39. Everything is Perfectly Fine

Kenshin’s tone was mild, and slightly curious- much milder than Kaoru would have expected. Aoshi looked faintly ill at the evidence that he’d lost time, or lost memories. Saitoh just looked like himself, which Kaoru thought could probably conceal any number of emotions.

“I would say that you found something,” Saitoh commented dryly. “It’s the only explanation. Ordinary warehouses, and ordinary dojos- apologies, Ms Kamiya, ordinary _fake_ dojos would not have the kind of magical protections that make people forget even looking for them.”

Kaoru breathed a very quiet sigh of relief. She knew what she’d heard. She knew that Megumi and Sano had been there as well, but it had been very disorienting to have even Aoshi and Hannya not remembering what they had said they would do, and there had been a moment when she’d expected them to argue that the humans must have just misheard something.

“Yes, but if we can’t find it without getting amnesia, how are we going to…” Aoshi started, sounding personally offended by the existence of amnesia-causing wards.

“Oooo!” Misao said, practically bouncing in her seat, “You can’t! But we can! Sano and Kaoru and Megumi remember the entire conversation- I bet it doesn’t affect humans!”

“It would be a pretty stupid plan to have customers forget where your business was,” Sano said.

“You do realize we’re talking about the possible site of a major supernatural ritual, full of deadly fighters and nasty artifacts? You can’t just go waltzing in there!”

“You do realize that we’re also talking about an actual company, and a fake dojo that’s probably just the back half of a cheap warehouse, right? It’s not like they’re going to do the evil supernatural rituals in the lobby.”

“Besides which,” Kaoru added, “Sano is going to go during the daytime.”

“Exactly! Wait, I’m going to do what?”

Kaoru started listing things on her fingers. “Megumi is going to be at work, and also looking for weird gaps in the blood supply. And tracking down evidence of morgue-robbing. Or grave-robbing. Or, um, something. Misao…actually, Misao should probably go with you, Sano, since then there are two of you. Sano, you…”

“And me!” Misao piped up, ready and eager to be part of the expedition to find the evil headquarters.

“Yes, and you. Anyway- Sano, you know the name of the place; you are the part-owner of a bar who might conceivably be looking for super-cheap winter holiday decorations or whatever, and you can even name-drop Katsu if they ask how you found out about them. Misao, you can talk their ears off about themes and holiday cocktail ideas and just basically demand to see everything. Lots of “Oh, but what’s behind THIS door and could I use it in a Festive Yuletide Celebration.”

“For charity!” Misao declared.

“What?”

“It’s a charity party, Kaoru,” Misao said, straight-faced. “Obviously I have to make sure that everything coordinates because we are hoping to raise a lot of money for a very worthy cause. Our rich donors demand that the table runners coordinate with the hanging light-up tinsel garlands.”

Kaoru couldn’t repress the feeling that this was either going to go very, very well, or extremely badly. “Right. Garlands. Yahiko, you are going to school- _as am I_ ,” she added over the start of his objections, “because Mr. Fujita… Saitoh… anyway, I am guessing he is going to be “out sick with a stomach bug” tomorrow, and that means I have to take over.”

Saitoh gave her a curt nod, and his impassive expression looked slightly impressed.

“And after school we both have to teach classes, but we’ll have time to do research in the evening.”

Yahiko raised an eyebrow. “On what?” he demanded. “All the cool stuff is already taken!”

Before Kaoru could come up with anything that her brother wouldn’t immediately see through as a distraction, Kenshin said, “We need more information about that sword exhibit at the museum. True, the Mugenjin was stolen- but what else might be there? Hoji has been planning this for years- he would hardly stop at one mystical sword if he could get more to the same location.”

Yahiko perked up immediately, and Kaoru quietly let out the breath she’d been holding.

“Well,” Saitoh said as he stood up. “I need to be getting home, unless there’s anything else.”

“Should we just meet back here tomorrow night?” Megumi asked. “Assuming that we find anything, of course.”

Kaoru really hadn’t planned on having two meetings in a row in her house, although she was happy to note that there were enough snacks that she wouldn’t feel the need to buy any more.

“Eh, how about we just meet at the bar?” Sano suggested. “There’s a back room, it’s pretty convenient to where we’ll all be coming from, and it’s my turn to provide the food.”

_‘And if anybody has been following any of us,’_ he thought, _‘they won’t get led straight to Kaoru._ ’

After establishing a time, and Sano and Misao setting up a meeting place before heading to the warehouses, everybody said goodnight. Kaoru was slightly sad that Kenshin left with Aoshi and Saitoh- even though she knew that they would have plans of their own to make, not to mention Yahiko’s presence being a bit of a hindrance to… to…. any private time with Kenshin.

‘ _Private time would be useful for tomorrow night!’_ Kaoru thought, realizing that she was mostly trying to convince herself. ‘ _Err… for asking questions about tomorrow night. Tomorrow night’s mission. Not private time for… any other reason.’_ Thinking of the various other ways private time with Kenshin could be used, she blushed, and was glad that everybody had left and that Yahiko was too focused on clearing out one of the remaining bowls of chips to have noticed.

“Ooo, ugly, thinking about your boyyyyfriiiend?”

Kaoru gritted her teeth and looked around for something to throw at him.

* * *

Getting access to the records she needed proved to be surprisingly easy. Megumi wasn’t sure if that said something about the hospital’s security, or about her ability to get people to do what she wanted them to do. She decided to go with the latter.

The trickiest part had been finding the time- her schedule wasn’t as packed as it could have been, but it was still fairly full (which, she supposed, was more evidence for how good she was at her job). Finally, she settled on taking the briefest possible lunch before heading where she needed to be. After a lot of thought, she’d decided that looking into anything weird with the blood supply was going to be easier than looking for missing bodies. She’d gotten a pretty good look at how the morgues worked when Gohei had… left… and it didn’t seem like hospitals were going to be an easy source of human remains for what sounded like some truly disturbing Frankenstein-level use of dead bodies. That meant looking for weird stuff in graveyards- and, frankly, Katsu was going to be the best candidate for that, because it was probably going to involve bizarre conspiracy theories in fringe newspapers, or police reports about Halloween shenanigans.

As she thumbed through the files she’d pulled on recent hospital events, she made a mental note to mention it at the evening’s meeting, and wondered whether she would need to bribe him with something. Given his fondness for weird stuff, she was pretty sure it wouldn’t be necessary- on the other hand, it would mean bringing another person into the circle of people involved in dealing with the supernatural, and Katsu’s personality meant…

Megumi stopped, and double-checked what she’d just read.

According to the official calendar, there had been five blood drives over the last two months.

According to the files, there had only been four.

The most recent blood drive wasn’t anywhere in the records.

_‘Well_ ,’ she thought, ‘ _It looks like Aoshi was right about human blood.’_

Pulling out a notepad, she started making calculations.

“Total amount of blood in the human body is about 10 pints… one pint per blood donation…” she muttered under her breath, then frowned. She could guess, somewhat, based on the range of donors at a typical blood drive, that the total volume of blood collected was between two or three people’s worth, she thought- it hadn’t been a full-day drive, and hadn’t been at one of the most visible major locations. However, not being able to say for sure, or have exact numbers, was really annoying. 

While Megumi was trying to decide whether it was worth the time to create some kind of spreadsheet with data from other blood drives, the phone on the desk rang. Frowning she answered it. 

“Misao? How did you get this… ah. You do realize that you’re not supposed to… yes, fine. What?” She looked at her watch. “Fifteen minutes? Yes, I can do that. Yes, I’ll remember. I hope you don’t, either, but I think it makes sense. Okay- good luck!”

* * *

Across town, Misao hung up her cell phone as she and Sano got out of his car.

“We are all set,” she declared, adjusting her wig.

“You look…very different as a blonde,” was his only comment. “And the glitter is… well, that’s a choice. That you made.”

She grinned at him, completely unashamed. “Oh, come on, when else am I going to wear this? I mean, when the sun is out. On a weekday. Come on, rooster-head, let’s go check out the creepy warehouse complex.”

The neighborhood wasn’t the worst that either of them had ever been in- another reason, she thought, why she and Sano were the best choices for this part of the mission. They both knew how to fit in, that combination of being invisible while also subtly radiating that they were not to be messed with. Megumi would have looked like she was about to demand to speak to the neighborhood’s manager, and Kaoru would have been too ready to attack anybody who looked at her funny (especially given the whole “fake dojo” aspect). Yahiko might have- possibly- been convincing as a street rat who was looking for a job, but he would have had the same problem as Kaoru if he’d gotten within ten paces of a fake dojo.

“Okay,” Sano said, “Bet that’s the building that Katsu described. Unless you see anything else around here that looks like a cheap sixties metal warehouse got rear-ended by a trashy eighties glass-obsessed office park.”

Misao snorted. “No, I think that’s the… well, not the _best_ anything, really, but the most likely. And the sign says Wing Kong, I think. Why do vaguely Asian cheap import places always feel like they have to have that weird font?”

As they headed to the entrance, Sano murmured, “Keep an eye out, and be careful- I don’t like the way this smells.”

She opened her mouth to make a joke about the sewers, but closed it without saying anything. He was right; there was something that was causing the hair on the back of her neck to stand up. If it hadn’t been important, she would have dragged them both back to the car and pretended that they had just gotten lost. On the other hand, the feeling that they would have had to pretend- that _something_ would have noticed if they’d just bolted- yeah, she was pretty sure that wasn’t the sewers.

Squaring her shoulders and adjusting her sunglasses, she put on her best slightly clueless grin and proceeded forward with Sano.

The door had a bell that jangled as they came in, Sano already getting into character and calling out, “Hey, anybody… oh, hello.”

The receptionist seated behind the counter was petite and dark-haired, her nails perfectly filed and her teeth perfectly white. As they came in, she stopped typing and turned to face them.

“Welcome to Wing Kong Exchange,” she said, smiling at them. “I am Judy. I am the receptionist here. How can I help you?”

“Heeyyyy,” Sano said again, somewhat more slowly. “I’m Bill; this is Marie- my boss was in here last year looking for Halloween decorations and, well,” he leaned forward conspiratorially, “he was talking about your prices, and I gotta say, I don’t think we can do better for the holidays this year, you know? I mean, don’t get me wrong, I get why he didn’t end up buying everything here, he’s got this cousin, but, anyway, I’m the one in charge of making the purchases, and, you know, anything we don’t use on the decorations budget, that’s more for other stuff!”

Judy, who hadn’t blinked once during Sano’s speech, tilted her head and said, “Of course. We have many different decorations for all of the upcoming holidays. Which holidays are you wanting to purchase decorations for?”

“Christmas!” Misao chimed in, and the receptionist rotated to face her instead. Sano let out a barely visible breath. “It’s a big party. We need lots of decorations, and we wanted to look at all of our options.”

The receptionist nodded once. “We have many different decorations for the upcoming Christmas holidays. Let me call somebody to assist you.”

She picked up a phone receiver and said, “There are two people here who would like to look at decorations for the upcoming Christmas holidays, please,” and then put it back down. Her smile seemed even brighter as she said, “Somebody will be with you momentarily. Please have a seat.”

Neither Sano nor Misao wanted to point out that there weren’t any chairs.

Judy turned back to her computer and continued typing.

Neither Sano nor Misao wanted to point out that the computer wasn’t turned on.

Before Sano could decide whether this was a good moment for them to run out of there, very fast, and drive away, even faster, the door next to the receptionist area opened and a thin man of average height wearing a cheap brown plaid suit came through. For somebody who was supposed to be running a business, he didn’t look happy to have customers.

“Can I help you?” he asked brusquely.

“Heyyyyyy,” Sano said, because it seemed to be working so far. “We wanted to see what you’ve got in terms of Christmas party stuff- my boss was here last year, really impressed at the selection, got the whole warehouse tour, told me to swing by, get some quotes….” With a vague hand gesture, he trailed off.

The man pursed his lips together. Misao was betting that he was calculating whether he could just kick them out. Hopefully, Sano mentioning Katsu’s previous trip would tip the scales. Deciding that a little bit more couldn’t hurt, Misao chirped enthusiastically, “Oh, I just love these places, don’t you, Bill? There are always so many fascinating things- remember how Maggie found those light-up garlands last year? Was that here?” She turned to face the plaid-suited man, almost batting her eyelashes as she said, “Do you still have those? They were so cute at her party!”

“Unfortunately,” the man said, “We are currently operating with a restricted stock, due to… unforeseen circumstances with our supply chain overseas. However, you are welcome to look at our remaining inventory from last year.” The last sentence was said grudgingly, almost as an afterthought.

He turned and held the door into the hallway open for them. As they walked past, Judy continued to type rapidly on the computer keyboard, the noise echoing until the door closed behind them.

* * *

“This is a stupid idea, and it’s going to end in violence,” Yahiko announced, flopping down next to Kaoru.

“It’s a pop quiz in biology,” she retorted, “and I would have thought you’d be all for it, seeing as how you’re such a genius that you barely need to study; isn’t that what you told Dad?”

Her brother scowled. “I still think I should be excused from this test, on account of, you know, important world-saving research. The only reason you even _wrote_ the stupid quiz is so that you could spend time reading up on the sword exhibit! It’s not fair!”

“Yahiko, we are both going to the exhibit tonight, and we need to have a plan. If you want to take half of this pile and try to work on it over lunch and before we head to the dojo, knock yourself out- but I was kind of hoping you could talk to Yutaro.”

Yahiko, who had been about to grab the proffered stack of papers, paused. She could see the calculations in his head- talking with his friend over lunch definitely sounded better than having to spend more time in the library with a stack of print-outs.

Pressing her advantage, Kaoru continued, “I mean, his dad sponsored the exhibit- didn’t he go get some of the swords himself? I bet Yutaro knows a lot that isn’t in here…. I bet his dad told him all the stuff that the museum thought was just a bunch of myths….”

Just as she’d thought, he perked up and said, “Yeah, I bet he knows all kinds of useful stuff! I mean,” Yahiko hastened to add, looking serious, “I won’t tell him that there are demons running around, or, you know, trying to bring back other demons….I’ll just say it’s about our project! That’ll work, right?”

“That will definitely work.” She smiled. “Now go study; I heard there was going to be a really annoying pop quiz next period.”

Scowling and muttering, her brother turned and stomped out of the Teacher’s Lounge. Kaoru grinned. She hadn’t been lying- talking to Yutaro could give them details that hadn’t made it into the official materials- but it was always a good feeling to get her brother to do what she wanted.

* * *

In spite of the faintly unpleasant odor and the fluorescent lights, Sano tried very hard to keep a neutral expression on his face as the man in the brown plaid suit led them down a hallway, turning right and then left along identical-looking corridors.

The man stopped at an open office door and said, “Our warehouse manager can take care of showing you what you need. I have other work to do.”

The man sitting behind the desk stopped typing and stood up. “Hello! I am the warehouse manager.” His suit didn’t fit quite right, and his expression looked like he’d been aiming for “friendly” but had gotten slightly lost along the way.

Sano wasn’t sure if he was imagining that the thin man who had guided them in was trying very hard not to roll his eyes.

“Mr….. Smith,” the plaid-suited man said, “These two customers are here to see the warehouse. Please show them our current inventory.” With that, he turned and left, heading back towards the reception area before turning down a side hallway that Sano and Misao were pretty sure they hadn’t seen when they were coming in.

“Of course! We have a wide range of products on display in our warehouse. I am happy to show them to you.”

“Great,” Sano said weakly. As the manager came out into the hallway, Sano tried very hard to tell himself that the lines up his neck were probably a tattoo, or some kind of scarring, and definitely not, for example, stitches.

Misao, trying gamely to stay in character, chattered brightly as they went down the long beige hallway.

“This is such an interesting business!” she tried. “How long have you worked here?”

Silence.

“So, um, who owns the company?”

“Mr. Gohei Hiruma is the owner of the Wing Kong Express,” the manager said, without turning to face her. “Unfortunately, he is currently out of the country due to unexpected supply chain issues.”

“Any idea when he’ll be back?”

Silence.

Before Misao could think of another question to ask, they passed a dark metal door. Sano, who had been getting twitchier as they’d gone down the hallway, burst out with, “Oh, hey, this must be the warehouse, right?” Before the manager could say or do anything else, Sano pulled open the door and…

It was like suddenly being dropped into deep water, Misao thought, trying to fight an increase in pressure. The smell that had been faint out in the hallway was almost overwhelming, copper-sharp with an undertone of rot, and a pulsating noise that pounded its way into her skull. She could see lines and swirls all over the floor, and up along the walls, and there was a light that shone and went around and around and around and….

A sudden loud ringing broke in, and Misao jerked back, elbowing Sano sharply in the ribs. He blinked several times and closed his jaw, slamming the door back shut and breathing as if he’d just come up from a dive.

As the ringing sounded again, she broke free of the last of the disorientation and grabbed her phone out of her bag.

“H-hello? _Megu…_ Meg! Maggie! Hi! Yes, we’re fine. We’re here, at the company.” As she rattled off the address and said something about garlands, she surreptitiously looked at the manager, who was standing against the wall, staring at the opposite side of the hallway. She wasn’t sure whether he’d even registered that Sano had opened the door for those brief seconds.

As she hung up, she made eye contact with Sano, who nodded slightly in agreement.

“Gosh,” Misao said, carefully keeping her expression neutral, “It’s a shame we couldn’t go into the warehouse today.”

“You are welcome to look at the warehouse,” the manager said. “We have many fine products on display, and….”

“It’s a shame we couldn’t go into the warehouse today,” Sano interrupted, firmly, stepping up next to her. “It’s too bad that the supply chain issues that are keeping Mr. Hiruma in China meant that _we couldn’t go into the warehouse_.”

“Unfortunately, Mr. Hiruma, our owner, isn’t here,” the manager agreed. “There are currently supply chain issues affecting our inventory, and he has had to travel to China.”

“Such a shame that meant we couldn’t go into the warehouse today.”

The manager stood very still, swaying slightly, his eyes looking glazed over.

“Since we couldn’t look at the warehouse today,” Misao repeated, “we should go back to the reception area and make an appointment.”

“While we are sorry that we could not see anything in the warehouse,” Sano added, “I think that you should definitely walk us back to the reception area so that we can make an appointment.”

They held their breath and waited, and Sano tried very hard not to look like he was about to punch the manager in the face.

The manager blinked suddenly, and gave them an apologetic grin. “I am so sorry that you weren’t able to see the warehouse today! Normally, we would have a wide range of many fine products. However, Mr. Hiruma, our owner, isn’t here. There are currently supply chain issues affecting our inventory, and he has had to travel to China. Please allow me to walk you back to the reception area so that you can make an appointment for when he is back in the country.”

He turned, moving slightly jerkily, and started walking back along the hallway. They followed him, still slightly on edge. Misao automatically dropped behind Sano, listening for anybody- anything- coming up behind them.

When they got back to the front lobby, Judy was still typing, her grin bright and her eyes vacuous.

The manager said, “Hello, Judy! Our guests were not able to see the warehouse today, because Mr. Hiruma, our owner, isn’t here. They would like to make an appointment to come back later, when he is back in the country.” Then he turned and went back through the door. Misao and Sano both tried not to exhale too obviously.

Judy said, “I am so sorry that you were not able to see the warehouse today! Normally, we have a wide range of many fine products. I am happy to make an appointment for you to come back when Mr. Hiruma, our owner, is back in the country.”

Sano managed to smile, and if his tone was a little bit too hearty, nobody who didn’t know him would have picked up on it. “Thanks, Judy! Hey, how about I call you in a couple of weeks, and you can pencil me in then?”

For a minute, Misao was afraid that the receptionist was not going to be able to process Sano’s request.

After several seconds, however, Judy said, “Yes, you should call in a couple of weeks, and I will pencil you in then. Here is a business card with our phone number.”

Sano really didn’t want to take the business card she had pulled out of a box on the desk- and he really, _really_ didn’t want to risk touching Judy’s fingers- but he managed to grin at her as he carefully took the corner of the card.

“Thanks, Judy!” Misao said. “We’re glad that we can call back after a couple of weeks. We’re going to leave now, because we have another appointment elsewhere with some other people, who are expecting us. And who know where we are.”

“Thank you for visiting Wing Kong Express!” Judy said cheerfully. “We are happy to help you with a variety of import-export needs! Have a nice day!”

Managing to not only exit the building but also walk to the car at a normal pace was probably the hardest thing either of them had done. Sano grabbed an empty plastic bag from the back seat and put the business card in it, then stuffed it all into the cup holder before reaching over to get hand sanitizer from the glove compartment. He slathered it all over his hands and then offered it to Misao, who did the same.

Neither of them spoke until they had pulled onto the main road and were sure nothing was trying to follow them.

“Well, that was a thing that….” Misao started, at the same time as Sano said, “What the _actual fu…._ Sorry; go ahead.”

She exhaled. “Well, I think we found the evil ritual room.” She pulled a notebook out from her purse and wrote down the warehouse address and a description of the buildings around it, adding “So, what are we thinking- creepy skin puppets? ‘Cause I kind of want to make some notes, you know, in case we get hit with magic amnesia too.”

“Yeah, definitely creepy skin puppets.” Sano shuddered, then continued under his breath with what sounded like some impressively creative profanity. After several minutes, he wound down and added, “No cameras in the building- and the one outside had broken wires. I mean, not that we think there’s no security, just… I don’t think there was anything in the hallway that was recording what we were doing.”

“You mean when we were definitely _not_ opening a cursed door onto a world of weirdness?”

“Yeah, then.” He sighed. “Okay, I say we go to the bar- a public location for the rest of the afternoon sounds like a good idea, and we should definitely make sure we’ve got this written down.

“That we’ve got _what_ written- kidding! I am kidding! We’re good! The bar is great! Love the bar! Watch the road!!”

* * *

Halfway through his lunchtime conversation with Yutaro, Yahiko realized that he was going to need a bigger notebook.

Not only had his friend’s dad put years of research into this sword exhibit, he had apparently gone out of his way to collect swords with interesting histories and weird mythology. And Yutaro had gotten to hear about all of it. A lot.

Halfway through a recitation about why Yawarakai-Te would clearly win a fight against Excalibur, Yutaro stopped and looked slightly embarrassed.

“Sorry; that’s probably not relevant for our project. I mean, we’re supposed to be focusing on the stuff that’s in the exhibit, and actual historical sword-forging.”

“I dunno,” Yahiko offered, trying to make his friend feel better, “I mean, we’ve got time to talk about some mythological swords, as long as we don’t go overboard with it. But, um, if you know more about any legends about the swords in the exhibit, that would be great.”

“Umm… well, there’s one that’s supposed to drink human fat? Or, well, absorb it.”

“Ewww…..”

“I know! I mean, blood-drinking, that would be cool, but absorbing fat’s just _gross_. Dunno why Dad was so excited about it. The Chinese one is supposed to be haunted, like, the guy who had it created vanished mysteriously, and there were all kinds of rumors about it going really badly if anybody else tried to use his sword… Other than that, it’s mostly specific legendary swordsmiths. Well, historical swordsmiths. Who were legendary. Maybe we pick some and do biographies?”

Yahiko nodded. “I think,” he suggested, “that we need to, you know, spend some more time at the exhibit. I mean, it was great to get to be there before it opened, but we’re probably going to need at least one more trip.”

He tried to think of a way to subtly hint that the trip should be after-hours, and that Yutaro didn’t need to be there, but then realized that that was going to sound like he had something to hide. Which, of course, he totally did, but he didn’t want to be _obvious_ about it.

“We could go this afternoon,” Yutaro said excitedly. “Or, um are you teaching all day?”

He sounded slightly envious about that, and Yahiko didn’t have the heart to tell him that he’d probably be bored; it was just a first-level class.

“I’m done at four-thirty,” he said, after some quick mental calculations. “I can just head over, meet you there?”

“Awesome!”

* * *

As he approached the museum in the fading twilight, keeping a careful hold on his gym bag and practice shinai, Yahiko realized that he’d forgotten a couple of very important things.

First, of course, was figuring out a way to tell Yutaro that _their teacher_ was coming with him. Well, his _sister_ , who _happened_ to be their student teacher, but in the context of “class project research,” and “perhaps wanting to complain about the project while at the museum” and “spending some time hanging out later,” it probably would have been good to at least give his friend a heads-up. Although he wasn’t sure how he would explain what Kaoru was doing there, and there was no way that it wouldn’t have been awkward all afternoon, as opposed to just being awkward for, like, maybe ten minutes once they were there.

Second, as he and Kaoru approached the museum entrance, where Yutaro was sitting on a bench and looking glumly at the front doors, was that neither he nor Yutaro had double-checked to see when the museum actually closed.

Realizing that somebody was coming towards him, Yutaro turned to face the walkway up to the entrance. He did a great job of pretending that he wasn’t surprised to see Kaoru- although Yahiko was pretty sure that he was in for a lot of teasing about needing a babysitter at his age- and managed a half-hearted wave.

“So, um, guess you’ve noticed….” he trailed off, waving his hand vaguely towards the building.

“Huh,” Kaoru said, “Aren’t they open late on… oh, no, wrong day; sorry.”

Yutaro stood up, sticking his hands in his pockets. “Yeah,” he said glumly, “I already had that argument with the receptionist.” Off of Yahiko’s look he hastened to add, “I wasn’t a jerk! I mean, I didn’t bring in my dad’s name or threaten to take her badge or anything, I just… got a little annoyed.”

“This sucks,” Yahiko announced to the area at large. Kaoru, who knew that his annoyance was not actually about their school project, thought for a minute.

“Wellllll….. the library isn’t that far from here, and they _are_ open until much later…”

“Gah, Kaoru, are you _nuts_? Don’t you remember that the last time that I went to the library at night I got attacked by that…. …. Um…. I mean, scary librarians. Are a thing. I’m still traumatized.” He shuddered and put his stuff down so that he could make more dramatic gestures. “I’m just not ready to face another card catalog, and those library fines…...”

Yutaro stared at him, blinking.

Before the other boy could actually say anything, there was a whoosh of air and a blur of motion, and his friend was grabbed, hoisted up by the back of his shirt by what Yahiko could swear was a sheathed sword and hauled up so that he dangled in the air, his expression one of uncomprehending shock.

“Woo-hoooo!” yelled the man who had just snatched the boy up, squinting one eye and grinning. “Perfect catch!” His blond hair stuck up crazily from within a purple bandana, and he wore what Yahiko’s brain insisted on thinking of as a bright red bathrobe. He had two more sheathed swords across his back, another at his waistband, and something that looked like a bandolier wrapped around his torso.

“Put him _down_ ,” Kaoru said through gritted teeth. She’d dropped her duffel bag and was holding her shinai in a classic Kamiya Kasshin pose, ready to engage.

“Awww, don’t be like that, little lady- I’m just gonna borrow the kid!”

“For _what_?”

“Well, you know how it is,” the man said, grinning even more broadly. “Unique opportunity, unique swords, can’t just let that pass me by, right? That would be really stupid! The kid here’s gonna get me into his daddy’s exhibit.”

“I _don’t have a key_ , you broom-headed… ow! Quit shaking me!”

“Pfft, who needs a key? You’ve got blood, right?”

Everybody else froze and stared at him, wide-eyed.

“Sheesh, it’s just a little bit,” he muttered. For a half-second, Kaoru wondered if he might start monologuing, but he seemed to remember that he actually had something to do. Hoisting Yutaro slightly higher, he lifted his foot and then, before Kaoru or Yahiko could say anything, he dashed towards the museum so quickly that a faint breeze sprang up in his wake.

“Umm….”

“Yutaro! Come on, Kaoru, we gotta help him!”

He grabbed her hand and sprinted forward, and it only took a second until she was running just as hard as he was, gripping her shinai in her other hand.

By the time they got to the door, neither Yutaro nor his kidnapper could be seen- but one of the doors, a faint red smear marking the glass, was slowly swinging shut. Putting on an extra burst of speed, Kaoru managed to insert her shinai into the doorway, halting the door.

“Get in, get in, _get in_. This is not as easy as it looks, it’s _pushing_ me….”

Yahiko wasted no time in doing what she said, then braced his own shoulder against the door, gritting his teeth, until his sister had made it through.

Once they were both inside, the door slammed with a hollow noise, and the red mark flared and faded. Exchanging glances, they both decided not to try it and see if they could open it.

Right now, that was a secondary concern- and they were wasting time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In this chapter I don’t own: "Big Trouble in Little China," "Avatar: The Last Airbender," (including beautiful Lake Laogai) or any historical or mythological swords.


	40. Sharp Blades

The museum lobby was eerily quiet. Kaoru turned to say something to her brother, then realized he wasn’t next to her.

“ _Yahiko!_ ” she hissed as she realized that he had gone around behind the reception desk.

He rolled his eyes and pointed, then, when she looked confused, rolled his eyes again and picked up the desk phone.

She nodded at him and gave him a thumbs-up. He grinned, then frowned and put the phone back into its cradle, giving her a thumbs-down.

“Totally dead,” he whispered to her once he was close.

“Guess it was too much to ask,” she murmured back. “At least we know where they’re going….”

“Yeah, and we know how to… OH Nnnnn…” Yahiko slapped his hand over his mouth to stop himself from yelling the rest of the sentence.

Kaoru gave him a deadly glare.

“Kaoru, I don’t have a weapon; my shinai is outside, I don’t have anything …” he whispered, rapid and frantic.

“Umm….” Kaoru wasn’t sure whether a training shinai was going to be of much use against somebody wielding a truly astonishing array of live steel, but she understood Yahiko’s near-panic.

“I think we’re going to have to wing it,” she said, not quite whispering anymore. The sword exhibit was far enough away that neither of them could hear anything- and she was pretty sure that once they were close enough to be overheard, they were going to be hearing Yutaro having some pretty loud opinions about the situation. “Look, we’ll keep an eye out for anything that you can use- -anything that _isn’t_ a priceless artifact or part of an exhibit.”

Reluctantly, he nodded in agreement.

They tried to move quietly, and to not get too creeped out by the shadows. It seemed to be going well, until Yahiko jumped and clutched at her arm, nearly startling a shriek from her.

“F…. _feet_!” Yahiko hissed urgently, pointing one shaking finger towards a nearby doorway.

Kaoru cautiously went up to where a uniformed man lay sprawled half in the hallway, and half in the gallery of Greco-Egyptian funeral vases. She could see the rise and fall of his chest, and poked at him gingerly with her shinai, getting no response. As she turned back towards Yahiko, she had a sudden idea. Kneeling down, she unhooked the guard’s heavy-duty flashlight from his belt, bringing it back with her.

Yahiko grinned as she handed it to him.

“Okay, this I can work with!” 

* * *

As they approached the sword exhibit, they could hear a noise, which turned out to be the entrance banner, which had come loose on one side and was dragging slightly on the floor in the breeze from the climate control system.

Kaoru stopped about fifty paces away from the entrance and tugged on Yahiko’s sleeve as he kept walking forward.

“What?” he asked, clearly trying not to be annoyed.

“Call me crazy, but I think that we can do better than blindly charging forward,” she murmured. “How much do you remember about the layout in there?”

“Umm… it’s kind of a loop, I guess? I mean, this is the main entrance, then it goes through all the historical stuff, then there’s the katana room, then it angles off and you end up coming out near the gift shop.”

“Right,” she nodded. “Pretty sure that’s Chou, the guy Kenshin said was obsessed with collecting swords.”

“Gee, what was your first clue,” her brother muttered, rolling his eyes.

“Knock it off; I’m worried too,” Kaoru said sharply. Exhaling, she continued, “So, I’m also going to say that we can be pretty sure that he’s going to go for the Japanese exhibit, not, you know, try to steal a bunch of Bronze Age stuff.”

Yahiko, who had even more experience with sword-obsessed guys than Kaoru, nodded. “Ooooooohhhhh yeah,” he agreed. “That’s totally a guy who’s gonna spend hours telling you about _hamon_ patterns and argue about samurai versus crusaders.”

Kaoru wasn’t sure how knowing that they were facing off against the hipster equivalent of a sword collector was going to help, but let it pass.

“Okay- you and Yutaro spent a lot more time running around in there- do you remember if there are any crossways? Like, if you had to get from one side of the exhibit to another, do you have to go through all of the rooms?”

“Umm… the hallway with the bathrooms goes kind of through the middle. One side is in the room with the Roman stuff, and the other is Mughal India. Japan is in the middle.”

“Right; I’ve got an idea.” 

* * *

Yahiko tried to job down the hallway as silently as possible, brandishing the flashlight.

He was not a big fan of Kaoru’s idea, but there hadn’t been time to think of a better one.

Okay, fine, he wasn’t sure that there was actually a better one- not without ropes to belay down into the exhibit from the museum skylights.

And any idea how to belay down ropes.

And the presence of skylights in the museum exhibit room.

‘ _You get Yutaro out of there,’_ Kaoru had said. _‘We need to make sure Chou can’t use him to get at the swords.’_

Neither of them mentioned that Chou could just start breaking things and get at the swords that way. When it came right down to it, if it was a choice between getting Yutaro out and letting all of the swords get stolen, they both knew what they’d pick.

Before they split up, Kaoru had also said, ‘ _I think… well, let’s just say that I’m pretty sure that after that break-in there’s got to be some kind of sparkly supernatural alarm system on all of this. If we can just delay that guy….’_

As Yahiko reached the end of the hallway, he paused, carefully looking around the corner before heading into the room full of resplendently bejeweled Mughal weapons. He tried even harder to walk as quietly as possible and stay near the exhibit cases so that he could approach the doorway from the edges rather than striding straight through the middle.

Passing through the next room, he could see a faint light ahead in the Japanese exhibit and could hear voices raised. As he got closer, he realized that the light was from a lantern that had been set down on the floor- and that the huddled form next to it was Yutaro, unconscious, with a crude gag over his mouth and a sluggish cut bleeding on the back of his hand.

He gave a quick look around the room to make sure that nobody else was in there, then dashed quickly over to his friend, not sure whether he should shake him awake or just try to hoist him up and drag him away.

Then he realized that he was still _hearing the voices_ and there was _nobody in the room_ , which meant that….

Spinning around, Yahiko realized that Chou’s interest apparently wasn’t just focused on the Japanese blades, because the man was very clearly in the next room over, with a bunch of medieval European material, gesticulating at one case and facing off against… against…

Kaoru, who was giving him the same glare she’d give to any of her students when they were being idiots- which Yahiko supposed was comforting, but her students weren’t usually that tall, and definitely didn’t have that many real swords. 

* * *

“Hey, _I_ was into this before it was cool,” Chou said, gesturing at… well, Kaoru was pretty sure the man meant the entire sword exhibit and all of its contents. She was very tempted to tell him that generations of Japanese sword-collectors from long before the Meiji era- not to mention representatives of all the other sword-making traditions from around the world- would argue with that statement, but had enough presence of mind not to do it.

“I mean,” the blond man continued, “Look at that! That is a genuine Ulfberht they’ve got in there, or my name isn’t Chou the Sword-Hunter!”

“Um… who?”

“He’s a very obscure swordsmith; you probably won’t have heard of him.”

“I thought you were all about Japanese blades,” Kaoru remarked. She wasn’t even sure why she was bringing that up- well, she thought, she did know; her entire function here was to be a distraction and keep Chou’s attention on her.

“I can appreciate global craftsmanship! The man was way ahead of his time! Probably still be making swords if those morons in the fourteenth century hadn’t decided firearms were the hot new European trend. Gunpowder and bullets- where’s the skill in that?”

Kaoru wasn’t sure where to start with that statement. She settled for tentatively saying, “So, I’m guessing that this Ulfbehrt wasn’t a human swordsmith, then?”

“I dunno,” Chou shrugged. “Never met the guy.”

“But…” she started, then remembered that her job was distraction, with a side of information-gathering, not pointing out serious gaps in logic. “I mean, aren’t you here for… your boss?”

The blond man snorted derisively. “Who, Shishio? Wouldn’t exactly call him my _boss_ \- I mean, I used to work for him way back in the day, but then he, you know, got himself burned up real good. Which just goes to show, it ain’t about fancy ideas and big speeches, am I right? I mean, I totally get why he’s trying to come back- the modern world’s got some pretty cool stuff going on, even if the weapons are booooorrrrring.” He rolled his eyes. “But this new way of doing stuff, there’s not gonna be anything fun. I mean, that Gohei guy, he was okay- but he got himself real dead.”

“Sooooo….” she tried again, not really wanting to talk more about Hiruma. “What… have you been doing since the… nineteenth century?”

“Eh, this and that,” he shrugged, and Kaoru hoped that she was guessing right about Chou being the kind of guy who was just dying to tell his story to an appreciative audience. Or to whoever was in the room with him.

“Spent some time working with that cop; that got boring real fast. One good thing about Meiji- lot easier to travel, lots more places to go. Really had a chance to broaden my horizons, you know?”

Kaoru was torn between asking if that was code for “steal cool swords in more places,” and not mentioning anything about theft, or swords.

“Man, I got to see some things you would _not_ believe,” Chou said, shaking his head.

“Is that how you ended up still being… I mean, you don’t look like you’re….” She stopped and tried again. “You seem awfully… mobile, for somebody who’s been around since the Bakumatsu.”

“Huh? Oh, the whole immortality gig. No idea, doll. Didn’t even notice at first- wasn’t exactly paying a lot of attention to the calendar. Just, you know, wandering around- kind of like your boyfriend, right?”

“Umm….”

Not noticing Kaoru’s expression, he plowed on, “I mean, that guy was more about “redemption” and “figuring stuff out,” and- well, hell, it’s all just more fancy ideas. But, you know, he got back into fighting eventually. I heard he’s been having himself a real good time around here.”

Kaoru refrained from pointing out that Kenshin’s “real good time” was still Shishio’s fault, and also not really a good time for _anybody_ involved in it.

“You know,” she said thoughtfully, “Shishio’s going to try to bring over a bunch of monsters with him, right? Like… a bunch of super-powerful bad guys who are all set to rampage? Seems like the sort of situation where a guy like you could find some work taking them down.”

“Huh,” Chou said, tilting his head in consideration. “You know, you’re right! I was gonna take off before Saturday, but sticking around could be fun!”

“Great!” said Kaoru, weakly.

“I mean, I still gotta get what I wanted here, and kill you, and that kid, obviously, but, hey, that is going to be a great way to test out the stuff from here!”

“Umm… _what?_ ” Trying to regain control of the conversation, Kaoru said, “I… I don’t think that murdering us is going to help you start working with…”

Chou snorted. “Who wants to work with those idiots again? I’m just out to have fun! And you, missy- Gohei talked about you! Family style, really wacky ideas about what fighting means… hell, I was actually jealous that he got to go fight you! This is gonna be great!”

“Have you considered getting a… different hobby?”

With a wild cry, Chou pulled one of his katana out and charged forward. Kaoru waited until the last minute and side-stepped gracefully, her mind racing as she hit him hard in the ribs.

‘ _Small room,’_ she thought, ‘ _Glass cases containing lots of pointy objects… Yahiko, please be getting Yutaro out of here… Kenshin, please be…’_

As the blond man charged at her again, Kaoru wondered whether he was actually using any particular style, or just running wildly back and forth. It was possible that he hadn’t been in a lot of sword fights recently- and, well, he was technically over a hundred years old, even though he didn’t look it. On the other hand, he had been one of Shishio’s top fighters, and even if he hadn’t been dueling every week, a century was a long time to build up skills.

Not to mention the inherent disparity between a shinai and live steel, Kaoru thought as she ducked out of the way and tried to hit him hard against his knee, barely avoiding a slash from Chou’s katana as he pivoted.

She was starting to suspect that the next thing he said was going to be something about how he’d figured her out and was ready to fight her for real now.

“That was fun!” he enthused, grinning broadly, “But, you know, time to fight for real! I think I’ve got you figured out!”

Kaoru rolled her eyes. “I bet you say that to all the girls you’re trying to murder with swords.”

This was going to be tricky, she knew. There was really only one other possible set of moves that she could use against an opponent like Chou- ones that she and Yahiko used to practice at home, not because they expected to ever have to use them, but because they sounded really cool.

Their father had rolled his eyes, but had helped them, because these were signature moves of the family style, and part of their heritage- and, also, he’d admitted one night, because they were indeed extremely cool.

Taking a deep breath, she concentrated as Chou swung his sword down.

_‘Hadome,’_ Kaoru thought, catching Chou’s blade between the backs of her hands. Moving smoothly forward, she thought, ‘ _Hawatari’_ and struck him, hard, in the side of his neck, then pivoted away as he staggered.

Normally, she would have gone for a blow to the head, but she was guessing that this guy had a thick enough skull that it wouldn’t have made much of an impact.

As he dropped his word, retching and coughing, she kicked it away under the nearest display case

He fell heavily sideways, but twisted to land in something like a seated position.

Kaoru was disturbed to realize that his coughing had turned to laughter.

Standing up, he put his hand on the hilt out yet another sword, and Kaoru tried hard not to wince. She’d known that it wouldn’t be that easy- that all of his swords weren’t for show.

“Woooo-eeeee!” Chou said, grinning broadly. “I have not had this much fun in… well, a long time; Gohei’s goons didn’t have any moves like….”

Before he could finish, Kaoru stepped forward, her shinai held so that it pressed down on the hilt of the katana that Chou was trying to draw. Getting close enough to be inside of his range, she elbowed up as hard as she could, hitting his nose with a distinct crunching sound.

She was disturbed- but not surprised- to see that he was still grinning broadly, even as his nose was bleeding.

And, of course, he had more swords.

“Okay, okay,” he said “but I bet you’ve never seen anything like this before, right?” Pulling at a hilt that was wrapped around his waist, he yelled, “The _Hakujin no Tachi_!”

Kaoru barely had time to fling herself sideways behind one of the central display cases as a long, thin blade whipped through the air towards her.

“Amazing, right? Made by Shakku Arai – who, let me tell you, did some incredible things with katana blades.”

Not daring to come out from where she was crouched, Kaoru yelled, “How the heck is that even a katana? There’s no way that counts!”

Chou looked offended. “Of course it counts! Just because it’s non-traditional doesn’t mean it’s not a katana!”

“Katana are all about tradition, you idiot! You can’t just call anything sharp a katana!”

“Hey, this was made by a Japanese swordmaster who was famous for thinking outside the box! He made a sword once that had two blades!”

Kaoru, who was hoping that Chou wouldn’t notice that as long as they were talking they weren’t fighting, said, “What… like… one hilt in the middle with a blade sticking out each end?”

She would have made a Darth Maul reference, but she wasn’t sure how Chou would feel about lightsabers.

“No, you dummy- one hilt with two blades coming out of it right next to each other.”

“Why… why would anybody ever do that?”

“If you get cut by it, the two slashes are too close together to get stitched up and heal properly.”

“I’m not sure that ….” Kaoru was cut off in the middle of her sentence by the whoosh of the ridiculous- but very sharp, she reminded herself- blade slashing down through the middle of the display case.

Chou, who was still grumbling under his breath about katana qualifications, seemed to have decided that conversation time was over, and it was back to fighting.

Kaoru looked around, trying to figure out where else she could get to that would keep her out of range as long as possible.

This was not looking good. 

* * *

As soon as he’d dragged his friend into the hallway, Yahiko frantically sprinted back to the Japanese sword room.

He almost cheered when he saw Kaoru execute the signature move of the Kamiya Kasshin style, but it was tempered by knowing that it had only bought her a little bit of time.

Gulping, Yahiko looked down at the flashlight in his hand. It would have been one thing if he just had to hit somebody over the head, or if he was dealing with somebody he could get close to and hit in the ribs, but Chou was using actual swords, and Yahiko was pretty sure he was good enough to not keep letting people into his space.

Then he looked at the glass case in front of him, where there were several actual swords. He didn’t have a lot of experience using live steel- and never in a combat situation; their father had not encouraged it, wanting them to focus on developing their family tradition, but there wasn’t anything else.

Mentally apologizing to Yutaro’s dad, and to the museum staff, and to Kaoru, Yahiko raised the flashlight up and…

“Hey! Kid, what do you think you’re doing?”

Yahiko barely managed not to yelp, spinning around to face a very angry figure in an orange outfit with pale hair, sunglasses, and a furious expression.

“Umm….” he started, weakly, looking down at the ground while he tried to think of a good excuse that didn’t involve admitting that he had been about to break into a museum display case to steal a sword that was probably way more valuable than his family’s entire house.

Then he blinked.

Looking down again, Yahiko gulped.

As he looked up, very carefully, and met the man’s eyes, he said, “Umm… So…. I mean, I couldn’t help but notice….”

The man in front of him raised an eyebrow.

“Ummm… you don’t… you…. Youdon’thaveanyfeet!” Yahiko burst out in a rush.

“Ah.” Looking down, the man frowned in concentration, and Yahiko tried not to shudder as his feet slowly appeared.

“Thanks?” he tried, not really sure what the appropriate thing to say was.

“You’re… welcome,” the man… ghost…. said, frowning slightly and clearly confused as to why Yahiko hadn’t fainted, or run away screaming.

A noise in the next room reminded Yahiko what was going on. Suddenly panicking about Kaoru’s situation, he tried to turn back to the case, only to feel something grab onto the flashlight and pull it out of his hand.

“Now, look, I know that everything in here looks tempting, and valuable, but you can’t just waltz in and start stealing things! Take it from me; that’s not the way that you want to live your….”

“I have to save my sister!” Yahiko yelled, “She’s gonna get killed in there, and… and…and…” It was like a dam bursting; he couldn’t seem to stop talking. “I haven’t been there, when she’s had to fight, and I’m supposed to…. Mom told us, she said we had to look out for each other, we _promised,_ and Kaoru’s always taken care of me, and now I can’t….”

The white-haired man’s expression changed as he heard Yahiko’s frantic babbling.

He closed his eyes and seemed to be remembering something as he sighed.

“Sisters are like that,” he remarked. Then he narrowed his eyes thoughtfully behind his glasses. “This would be your _older_ sister, then?”

“Yes…” Yahiko answered, not quite sure where this was leading.

“That,” the man said slowly, “is a different situation.” He stretched his shoulders and looked remarkably cheerful for the circumstances. “There are rules,” he explained to Yahiko as he looked at the case in front of them.

“Rules… about… older sisters?”

“Well, there are for me. Of course,” he added, “you still have to sacrifice something.”

Yahiko stood tall, his expression determined. “If it saves Kaoru, I don’t care what I have to sacrifice.”

“You need to learn how to bargain better, kid. But… well, saving an older sister, and getting a chance to sword fight…. One hour.”

“One hour of….?”

“An hour of your life. I’ve seen her opponent; trust me, an hour is more than enough.” He held out his hand.

Yahiko had no idea what was happening, but he hadn’t been lying when he said that he didn’t care. He nodded and held out his hand in return, wincing as the man grasped his hand tightly and something like a spark seemed to shiver down his arm and across their handshake. He was slightly dizzy, but could still stand upright.

‘ _Or… maybe not….’_ he thought as he sunk down to sit on the floor.

“Sorry; was in a hurry- you’ll be fine; just, you know, don’t jump in swinging your flashlight around or try to drive heavy machinery for a while.”

The expression on the man’s face as he turned to face the glass case was fierce, and his grin was one that would have had Yahiko backing away very carefully under other circumstances. He held up both of his hands and placed them against the glass, which shattered into silent shards, falling onto the floor.

Reaching into the case, the man grabbed a sword that was unlike anything Yahiko had seen before. “Is that…what is that?” he asked, trying to focus.

“It’s a specific kind of _tachi_ called a _nihontou_ ; a Japanese katana blade with a Chinese-style grip…” the man trailed off, and looked at Yahiko. “Were you and your sister in here right before the exhibit opened, by any chance?”

“Yeah, my friend and I were working on a project, and Kaoru came along with us.”

“Huh,” the man said. “The dojo family. Well, well. Small world.” He hoisted up the sword, and Yahiko couldn’t help but notice that he seemed somehow more solid.

“My name is Enishi Yukishiro,” the man said, grinning that disturbing grin. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have an older sister to rescue.” 

* * *

Kaoru winced as she realized that she had run out of display cases- or, rather, she had run out of display cases that were in range and possible to hide behind. She was panting slightly from exertion, but her grip on her shinai was still steady.

Ignoring Chou’s continual bragging, she tried to think of something else that she could do.

The problem was range, she thought. Range and speed- Chou was a loudmouth and a braggart, but he was very fast with that sword, and the sword itself was more like a long whip than a katana, which ruled out any of her special moves.

There wasn’t even anything in the remains of the display cases that seemed useful, she realized- or at least nothing that she felt like she could do anything with other than just throwing it….

‘ _Huh…_ ’ Kaoru thought, ‘ _I wonder….’_

Picking up the closest thing that looked like a chunk of sharp metal, Kaoru popped up long enough to throw it directly at Chou’s head. As he ducked, she dashed, searching to find the next thing to throw.

Unfortunately, as she picked it up and turned to throw it, she realized that the sharp whip of the sword was heading straight at her midsection.

As she brought her shinai up, hoping that she could at least use it to blunt the impact before it shattered, there was a sudden displacement of air in front of her, and she was looking at an orange-clad back and familiar-looking white hair, as she realized that the man in front of her was holding the sword that he’d talked about with Kaoru.

Chou’s blade had been deflected and ended up with the tip embedded in the wall on one side of the room.

“Your brother sent me,” the man said over his shoulder.

Kaoru opened her mouth to say something, but before she could, Chou, whose expression had gone from annoyed to amazed, burst out with, “Hey, you’re that haunted sword!”

“I,” the man said, “am not a sword.”

“Hey, dude, wasn’t talking to you,” Chou snorted, his eyes alight as he looked at the sword in the man’s hand.

“Just so we’re clear,” Kaoru said, “You—sorry; what is your name?”

“Enishi. Enishi Yukishiro.”

“Right. So, first, of course, nice to see you again, thank you for saving me; second, I am guessing that you are in fact dead, and bound to what was probably your personal sword, which… is not the strangest thing I’ve had to deal with recently; third, if you’ve done anything to hurt my brother, I promise that you will end up a hell of a lot deader than you currently are.”

He laughed. “I see why he was trying to break that glass with a flashlight,” he remarked. “Your little brother is fine, _hageshi onee-san_. I swear it on my sword. Which, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to use to make this idiot regret ever coming here.”

Kaoru blinked, but before she could argue that she was not THAT violent, Enishi was charging forward. 

Chou hollered, and pulled his own blade back, clearly preparing to whip it across the room again. Kaoru, realizing that she really didn’t want to be in the middle of the fight, dashed over to the side of the room, pressing herself to one side of the end display case.

As Enishi fought, she realized what he’d meant about practicing a hybrid sword style. It was actually fascinating to watch, just different enough from her own experiences that she couldn’t quite predict it.

Meanwhile, Chou was clearly enjoying himself, although Kaoru couldn’t tell whether he was talking to Enishi or to the sword that Enishi was wielding- or, for all she knew, the sword that was wielding the ghost.

Really, the most disturbing part of the fight was that both men were grinning as they slashed at each other.

Enishi charged forward then, slashing at the sword that Chou was trying to wrap around him. There was a loud screech as he hit it at an angle, and it fell to the floor, bent in a way that Kaoru didn’t think it could recover from. Chou looked slightly shocked as he dropped the hilt, but he recovered quickly, pulling out yet another sword.

This one was… odd-looking, darker than normal, and with an edge that seemed to flicker.

Enishi snorted. “Really?” he said, unimpressed. “That’s what you’ve got left?”

Chou shrugged and grinned again, “Hey, it’s been a great blade, and we’ve had a lot of fun- I wouldn’t rule me out. I’m still living, ain’t I?”

“Not for long,” was the laconic response.

Chou charged forward, almost too fast for Kaoru to see him, and Enishi stood his ground, his blade flashing at the last minute.

The dark blade broke, and there was a horrible noise as a wind howled within the room. It caught the blond man and swirled around him, forming a spout that pulled in tighter and tighter. Chou’s face was distorted behind the winds, but he seemed to be yelling something.

The broken half of his sword was picked up by the winds and pulled into the current, and there was a sudden flash that had Kaoru wincing and closing her eyes.

When the light cleared, the dark sword was laying on the floor, completely fixed… and surrounded by several other sheathed blades, with no sign of the man who had been wielding them.

Enishi rolled his eyes, sheathing his own sword. “Moron,” he said, “making a bargain like that.”

“Umm…” Kaoru said, coming hesitantly forward. “So…is he… gone, now?”

“Until somebody wakes him back up.”

“Huh….. wait, Yahiko!”

“I’m here!” came a faint voice, as her brother came into the room, swaying slightly on his feet. In an instant, Kaoru was over next to him, supporting him while also expressing her opinion about whatever mess he’d gotten himself into this time and double-checking about what he’d done with Yutaro.

Neither one of them could see the expression on Enishi’s face- fond, and sad, and lost in his own memories.

Finally done with her brother, Kaoru turned to the man who had saved them.

“Thank you,” she said, whole-heartedly. “I…. is there anything that we can do? I mean, if you’re bound to that sword, do you… want to come with us?”

Enishi blinked, clearly shocked.

“I mean, we have a dojo, and it’s probably way more interesting than being stuck in a museum or, um, wherever. And, actually, if you’re interested in fighting demons and people like Chou….”

Before she could finish her sentence, there was a loud shout that echoed across the room.

“ _KAORU!!!!”_

Before the noise could fade, Kenshin was in the room, blade drawn and eyes furious. He was followed at a more sedate pace by Saitoh, who already looked bored, and Aoshi, who was looking around with interest at the destruction to the room and at the blades on the floor.

“Kenshin!” Kaoru exclaimed, hoping that she could defuse the situation. “It’s fine! It’s all fine! Um… Chou was here, but he kind of got… eaten, by one of his swords, which was probably what was keeping him alive all this time, by the way.”

Failing to notice the frozen way that Enishi and Kenshin were looking at each other, she kept going with her explanation. “He grabbed Yutaro to get in here- oh, Yahiko stuck Yutaro in the hallway, back that way…. Err.. maybe if you can take him home, and, I don’t know, make sure he doesn’t remember the whole ‘kidnapped by a sword-wielding maniac thing? Oh, and, um, we were rescued. Obviously. This is Enishi…”

“Yukishiro.” Kenshin gritted out.

The white-haired man exhaled slowly, and everybody in the room could tell that he was on the edge between attacking and retreating.

“A _very_ small world,” he remarked finally. “I might have known that this was one of your messes, you bastard. It’s a damn good thing for you that I only have forty more minutes, and other things to do.”

“Wait- you two know each other?” Yahiko asked, before Kaoru could kick him in the ankle.

Kenshin only nodded, looking somehow more solemn than Kaoru had ever seen him, his face drawn.

“Yukishiro, I…”

“Shut _up_ ,” Enishi hissed, seeming on the edge of violence once more. “You don’t get to apologize; you don’t get to explain; you don’t get to be _grateful_ ; I didn’t do any of this for _you._ It’s because of you my sister is _dead_ , you demonic son of a bitch.”

With a final snarl, he stalked out of the room, while everybody stood in shocked, uneasy silence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author’s note: "hageshi onee-san" translates roughly to “fierce older sister.” And, hey look, everybody, it's Enishi (again)! 
> 
> In this chapter I do not own: Any mythical or legendary swordsmiths, whether from early medieval Europe or nineteenth-century Japan, or "Star Wars."


	41. The Bloody Rain

Everybody froze and stared, half at Enishi’s retreating back and half at Kenshin.

Well, Kaoru corrected, everybody except Saitoh, who still looked bored. And Aoshi, who was squatting down to poke speculatively at the sword that had apparently just absorbed Chou. So really it was just her and Yahiko.

Kenshin raised his hand to his face and took a deep breath, then exhaled slowly. Kaoru was pretty sure that he was counting as he did it.

“Aoshi, are you quite done, for now?” he inquired after he was done.

“Not yet; I need to figure out how to transport this safely out of here- this is definitely not something that can just be left lying around. Not to mention the rest of the damage.”

“Ah. Well, can you at least perform a basic memory charm on Yahiko’s friend so that Saitoh can take him home?”

“Of course. And I’ll call the others to let them know that our meeting will need to be postponed until tomorrow.”

Saitoh snorted, but followed Aoshi out of the room. As he passed Kenshin, he put a hand on his shoulder, much to Kenshin’s surprise, and his tone was almost gentle as he said, “You knew you were going to have to tell this story, Himura.” Then he walked out, leaving the three of them alone.

Kenshin’s expression had gone solemn again, and Kaoru fervently wished that she could do something to help. She didn’t know what Enishi had been talking about, but she knew that it was important, and probably devastating.

“Right,” said Kenshin. “I think that this is a conversation that we should have someplace that’s not here. And possibly after food.”

Yahiko opened his mouth, clearly intending to demand immediate answers. The effect was completely ruined when his stomach chose that moment to growl, loudly. Kaoru, acting on automatic, elbowed him sharply in the ribs.

“Ow! Knock it off, ugly! I can’t control my own gut!”

She rolled her eyes, but didn’t argue with him.

“Food,” she said, “would be great- although I think we should get it to go. And then, well, go. And talk.”

Kenshin nodded, and gestured for the three of them to follow him. As they walked out of the exhibit, Kaoru and Yahiko debated the merits of several different local Chinese restaurants known for cheap food and large portions.

* * *

Enishi Yukishiro had lived a long life- well, not that long, not compared to what he might have expected, had things been otherwise. But he had, he reflected, had a surprising afterlife, and one that he wasn’t keen on seeing end just yet. Even if he was bound to a specific object, and even if that object wasn’t in use much anymore.

So, when he heard Hajime Saitoh, legendary captain of the Shinsengumi, demon, demon-hunter, and general pain in the ass, approaching the part of the roof he’d chosen to climb up to, he sighed and turned, ready to fight.

That was why he was very surprised when the older man merely lit a cigarette and joined him in looking out over the grounds of the museum.

“Very peaceful place,” Saitoh remarked, blowing out a smoke ring.

“Yes….” Enishi said, not quite sure where the conversation was heading.

“You know, some people enjoy peace, especially after a long time without it.”

“Some people,” Enishi countered, eyes narrowing, “see what lies underneath peace, and know that it’s all a load of horseshit.”

“Mmmm…..”

“Is there a point to this little Zen discussion?”

Saitoh stubbed out his cigarette on the roof railing. “You’re the kind of person who seems like he could use a job.”

“If you think I am working with that….”

Before Enishi could work himself up into righteous fury, Saitoh snorted derisively. “Of course not. Trust me, I would rather not deal with Himura either, and I have nothing like your reasons. That’s why I prefer to work on my own as much as possible- and, of course, there are other people I occasionally complete assignments with who aren’t even connected to the Bakumatsu at all. It’s a very big world out there, Yukishiro, and there’s a lot going on. Sometimes, the only solution to a problem is a wolf. Or,” he nodded in the white-haired man’s direction. “a tiger.”

Enishi blinked. “I… can see where that could be… an attractive idea. But I don’t think that you can persuade me in the twenty minutes I have left.”

Saitoh raised one eyebrow. “I must admit that this sort of thing isn’t my field- I take it that the young man gave you time to move independently of your blade, and walk among the living?”

“Yes, but there’s a catch- once the time is up, I go back into the sword, and the sword goes to its last location. Can’t even manifest as a ghost for… well, it’s not going to be that bad; it’s twice the time I was in a physical form.”

“Ah,” Saitoh said. “I was going to offer you additional time, but it sounds like we might better have this discussion with you in a form that doesn’t come with pesky consequences. What about this- once you’re gone, I’ll take the sword with me. By the time I’m back home, you should be able to manifest, and then you’ll have plenty of time to ask questions before you make a decision. If nothing else, it gives you some time that’s not in a museum.

It took under ten second for Enishi to nod, slowly, and hold out his hand for Saitoh to shake.

Then he turned to go back into the museum. “This will be easier if I’m already inside.”

“It will also give Shinomori time to create a replica of your sword to stay in the exhibit. By the way, I’m assuming that you can consume spiritual sustenance, like a regular ghost?” Off of Enishi’s nod, he said. “Excellent. I’ll phone ahead and let my wife know to set an additional place at the table.”

As Saitoh continued towards the door, Enishi stood for a second, his expression baffled.

“You… have a _wife_?”

* * *

After they had eaten and put away the leftovers, they settled in and sat down in the living room.

Kaoru was pretty sure that the only reason they had all ended up at her apartment again was because it was closest to where they'd gotten the food. She was also pretty sure that the only reason Kenshin wasn’t trying to have this conversation while curled up with her on the couch was because both she and Yahiko were in the room.

On the other hand, she thought, it was going to be less distracting to have two of them listening to what Kenshin had to say- and she suspected that it might actually be easier for Kenshin to talk to an audience that wasn’t just her.

After a minute where nobody seemed quite sure how to start, Kenshin sighed and said, “You already know something about my past. About the Bakumatsu. So you know that I… that I fought. I killed. For a cause; one that I thought was right, one that I truly believed in…..”

Kaoru nodded, unsure of exactly what to say.

“I… when I ….” Kenshin stopped and tried again. “When I was in Kyoto, almost every night was covered in blood. I hadn’t realized, when I had left the mountain, what that would be like. I was... well. Naïve. To put it bluntly- and probably more politely than I deserve. It had gotten to the point where even the sake tasted like iron and copper and death. Then, one night, when I was at least trying to drink, there was a woman in the bar. She was… stunning. Like something out of a poem, or a dream. Tomoe. Tomoe Yukishiro.”

Kaoru hadn’t been expecting that, and tried very hard not to react. Of course Kenshin would have met other women… of course he would have had feelings for… She firmly told herself to shut up and pay attention and think about all of this later.

“As I was heading back to the inn that the Choshu fighters were all staying at, I was attacked. I don’t know who they were- not common criminals, but fighters with some skill. They were still no match for me. I was… very violent. As the last one leapt at me, I …” he stopped mid-description.

“ _Very_ violent,” he continued. “I don’t know why Tomoe had followed me- or even if she had. But as the last pieces of the last assailant fell, I looked and realized that she was there, blood spatter just catching the edges of her parasol and her clothes…. And she looked at me, and I looked at her, and I wondered if I needed to kill her, to eliminate any witnesses…. And she told me that I had made the rain bleed, right before she fainted. I caught her- more out of reflex than anything. She smelled like white plums; that was the only thing I could think. And I wasn’t sure what to do- it was the middle of the night, in Kyoto, and the street around us was covered in…. At any rate, I took her back to my quarters.”

Yahiko’s eyebrows had raised up to his hairline. Kaoru couldn’t blame him; she was having a very hard time maintaining what she hoped was a neutral expression that conveyed support and definitely not judgment about taking an unconscious, blood-spattered woman back to your room.

“The lady who ran the inn was very kind- she helped me, and didn’t say anything. I mean, she clearly _thought_ a lot of things, but she didn’t _say_ anything, and she never treated Tomoe with anything less than complete respect.” He looked slightly abashed. “I hadn’t thought…well, I hadn’t thought at all, really, about what would happen. About how it would look. A woman who was by herself in a not-entirely-reputable bar drinking sake all night was probably not a woman who had someplace better to go- or safer to drink. The innkeeper gave her a job. Katsura sent Iizuka- one of the other Ishin-shishi- to try to find out something about her. He couldn’t find anything; he eventually told Katsura thought she must be from an impoverished samurai family that had sold her into prostitution, and she’d fled to Kyoto from some brothel or other.”

Off of their horrified looks, Kenshin grimaced. “It was not uncommon. Horrible, but not… not uncommon.” 

Continuing, he said, “I think it was about that time that Katsura talked to her. He’d noticed that I seemed to have a… a preference for her. He noticed even before I did, which was really not a surprise. He told her that I was like a sword- an instrument that could be useful, but could also be dangerous… harmful. And that he hoped that she could serve as a sheath- that she could… protect me, and keep me from losing myself to the bloodshed. I don’t know what she thought about that conversation, but… we had started talking. She had opinions about what I was being asked to do. She could see what it was doing to me.”

As he put the glass back down, he said, “I didn’t even realize that I was falling in love until after it happened. I didn’t even realize that I _could_ …. Well.”

“Of course,” he managed to look abashed, “It took her explaining that she’d come to Kyoto to locate her missing fiancé for me to figure it out. His name was Akira Kiyosato. They had been childhood sweethearts, and she’d been in love with him all her life. She was close to crying when she told me how badly she felt that she hadn’t been able to respond to his proposal by showing how much she loved him. Japanese noblewomen in the 19th century were expected to be demure, not demonstrative… and she had had to take charge of the household from a young age, after her mother died, especially since her father hadn’t handled it well. Emotions weren’t something she felt she could express freely. Even if they were happy, positive ones.”

Kaoru blinked. “Oh….” she managed, feeling a twinge of sympathy.

Kenshin looked off into the middle distance and continued. “He wanted to be a hero. For her. He wasn’t… he wasn’t a great warrior, but he loved her, and he was convinced that he wouldn’t be worthy until he’d done something to get a reputation. Tomoe was certain, afterwards, that if only she’d been able to share what she really felt, openly, he wouldn’t have left her, not for any reason or reputation. But there was a wall between them that she couldn’t break, and she was sure that it was her fault.”

Yahiko asked, hesitantly, “Um….so… just… to be clear. Um. Was Kiyosato’s family… I mean, which side was he going on a mission _for_?” 

“Ah,” Kenshin said, wincing. “Yes. That… that would be relevant. Was relevant, back then. I was a fool; I didn’t think to ask. I didn’t think to _care_ about it. By the time we met, he’d been missing for months. The neighbors had started to whisper about how she wasn’t showing enough regret for his absence- that she must have driven him away- that he had probably found somebody else, or several somebodies, because of her coldness…” He looked angry for a moment, still upset on Tomoe’s behalf after all these years. “So she decided that the only solution was to go to Kyoto. Alone. With no experience traveling, or being in a large city, or even knowing how to go about finding somebody, with just what she could carry with her…..” He trailed off, clearly leaving many things unsaid about what it would have been like for an upper-class woman from a small town in nineteenth-century Japan to travel to the imperial capital on her own in a time of growing chaos, and how she would have ended up alone, drinking sake at night.

“And, to answer your question, Yahiko, the man Kiyosato was working for supported the shogunate. To be fair, so did that entire region of the country at the time. He was an obedient young man; he wasn’t a radical thinker. The only thing that he wanted was to be deserving of the woman he loved.” Kenshin sighed. “By the time the Ikedaya incident happened, I had realized that I wasn’t deserving of her, either- although for entirely different reasons. But Katsura ordered both of us out of Kyoto, together, to a small village called Otsu. I don’t know if he was thinking of Tomoe as a sheath to keep me safe, or if he was just being practical. Nobody would look for the infamous Choshu assassin in the guise of a married farmer and part-time medicine peddler.”

Kaoru’s eyes went wide, but she didn’t say anything.

Kenshin blushed. “We weren’t… She was still engaged, and still in love with Kiyosato. Even if… even after developing feelings for me. She would never have just abandoned him. And I would never have asked her to make that choice. But pretending to be married was a useful cover. And it was… peaceful. Being out in the country again, away from constant assignments.”

None of them felt the need to clarify what Kenshin’s “constant assignments” had entailed.

“We were there for months, as the seasons changed. I thought about what I really wanted. For myself, for her… We grew close, and I started to hope….” He trailed off. “Then I was called back to Kyoto for a mission. It was a fairly standard assassination; or at least, that’s what everybody had thought. A noble and his bodyguards, meeting with another noble- the same as many other missions, and many other deaths.”

Kenshin looked off into the distance, clearly lost in memory. Kaoru and Yahiko hardly dared breathe for fear of interrupting what he was saying.

Shaking his head, he seemed to come back to himself. “At any rate, when I arrived, I realized rapidly that this was not an ordinary situation. My targets were in the middle of a ritual- it was… well, imagine if your high school compatriots had actually known what they were doing, and had had more time and resources to try to do it, and even less concern for what might happen as a result.”

Kaoru blanched. Yahiko, who had only heard bits and pieces of what had actually happened, also looked distinctly ill.

“Their only concern was to raise something strong enough to kill the assassin who had been killing their men.” He looked slightly embarrassed. “I don’t think they even knew I wasn’t human; they just… knew that I was better than they were and were getting desperate.”

“I killed the ones casting the spells and destroyed what they were using in their summoning. I killed everybody who was in the room- except one person. Because he’d yelled that he couldn’t die yet; he was engaged to be married. Because he called out a name, and I knew her. Because I couldn’t destroy her happiness that way. Even though it was my mission. Even though part of me thought about it… I couldn’t do it.”

He swallowed, then exhaled. “So. I dragged Akira Kiyosato out of a room full of corpses and told him that his fiancée was still waiting for him- he was shocked- and refrained from telling him that he should have just written to the woman he was supposed to marry, and not let everybody assume the worst. The boy was terrified enough already without getting a lecture from a man covered in blood who he’d just seen slice through everybody else in the room. And then I told him that it was one thing to be loyal, and another thing to get involved with trying to summon horrors to ravage the city, and that he should just go home. And I left him there. And I spent the night walking back to Otsu, trying to figure out what I should say to Tomoe. After all, what could I possibly have offered her? They’d loved each other since they were children, far away from the chaos and bloodshed that marked my life.”

Yahiko looked like he was going to say something, but Kaoru elbowed him in the ribs. He muttered, “Owww…” under his breath, but kept quiet.

“When I got back to the cabin, she had a visitor. Her little brother, Enishi.”

Both Kaoru and Yahiko blinked.

“He was very young. Still a child. And incredibly angry. With me, but also with Kiyosato, I think. Tomoe had practically raised him, with their mother dead and their father largely absent- physically, but also mentally. Tomoe was all Enishi had, really. The thought that he would lose her to another household- I don’t think that he’d quite realized that would ever happen. He was young enough that he assumed nothing would ever change, and that his beloved older sister would always be there. And then, when Tomoe was so despondent, when she fled home in the middle of the night… I think Enishi took off after her almost immediately. And, whether good or bad, his luck brought him to the same group that was trying to find creative ways of killing me, including summoning demons.”

“So he knew about Kiyosato?” Yahiko demanded.

“I don’t think so. Not exactly. The men in charge of that group were clever- at least they were clever enough to realize that Enishi’s loyalty was to his sister more than to them, and that no matter what he said about Kiyosato, if he was face to face with the man, he was probably going to try to beat him up and yell at him until he agreed to help him find Tomoe and go back home. Enishi had been kept busy as a courier until they located Tomoe in Otsu and sent him to her. I think they were hoping she could be useful- after all, both her brother and her fiancé were working for them already- and Enishi at least showed up convinced that she was being held prisoner under horrible conditions by a notorious and bloodthirsty murderer.”

“She was? Oh… right, sorry.”

Kaoru would have smacked him but she was too caught up in the story.

“Enishi wouldn’t even talk to me- just glared and threw something at me and ran off. I never knew exactly what he and his sister had talked about, but he was clearly upset. So was Tomoe. Whatever else he’d told her, I’m certain that he told her that Kiyosato was alive, and nearby, at a house that the group had selected as the site of their trap. I don’t mean that he’d told her about the trap part, of course; only that he’d seen Kiyosato and been sent to talk to Tomoe. She would have had no reason to doubt that.”

It was clear from Kenshin’s expression that this was incredibly difficult for him to talk about, and Kaoru wished that she could hold his hand, or sit next to him, or do _something_ reassuring.

She settled for saying, quietly, “It’s okay, Kenshin.”

He shot her a grateful look.

“After he left, I told her that I’d met Kiyosato in Kyoto, and that I’d sent him home. For her. She didn’t tell me that Enishi had already told her that he was nearby. After that, I expected her to leave me in Otsu, but instead…. she seemed to have made a decision. She reached out to me, and I don’t think I’d ever been so happy. So content. We spent the night together … I asked her if she would marry me, for real. She smiled and kissed me, and I fell asleep thinking about how I would tell Katsura that I was leaving, and what our lives would be like, together, away from the bloodshed.”

“And when I woke up, I was alone, and Izuka was pounding on the door, yelling about how Tomoe was being held by a pro-Shogunate group at a nearby farmhouse, and that Katsura suspected that she herself was a spy for the Shogunate, and wanted me to bring her in for questioning. Which, he strongly implied, meant torture.”

Kaoru, who had been holding her water glass, too caught up to take a drink, almost dropped it on the floor.

“It would have been helpful if anybody had realized that _he_ was a traitor before then,” Kenshin said, wryly, his mouth twisting. “The plan was to make me too emotional to fight at my best, and send me off into a trap. A series of traps, really; some of their best fighters, combined with barrels of gunpowder. They’d also realized that some of the forest in that area was spiritually dead, for lack of a better word. Harder for a skilled swordfighter to read movements there; harder to track intentions. If I hadn’t been… well, what I am, it would have gone worse. As it was, the only reason I got through was that I was not human and was very, _very_ angry. At one point I sliced both of a man’s … never mind.”

The fact that Kenshin had to stop himself from going into detail about what he’d done to the men sent to kill him in the forest outside Otsu didn’t stop either Kaoru or Yahiko from imagining, vividly, what he must have been like.

Kenshin drew a hand across this forehead and visibly pulled himself back from the past. Clearly trying to keep his tone unemotional- and at least partly succeeding- he continued his story. “Even so, the attacks and explosions did have an impact. I was wounded, and my senses were not what they usually were, by the time I reached the house where I knew Tomoe was. I couldn’t believe that she was a traitor; she’d had so many chances to kill me already. So many opportunities to have the Shinsengumi break down the doors of the inn and arrest or kill all of us. I didn’t understand how Katsura could have been so deceived; all I could think was that if I could just talk to her, we could clear all of this up and go home.”

He paused.

“It is possible that the explosions had done more damage than I thought at the time; it didn’t even occur to me that Izuka might have been lying, or that Tomoe might not even be there.”

“Was… was she there?” Kaoru asked, hesitantly.

Kenshin nodded slowly, then sighed. “I don’t know what she wanted to do. I don’t know why she left without telling me- well, I can guess. Her brother told her that her fiancé was nearby; then I told her that I’d yelled at the man and called him an utter fool and told him to go find the woman he loved. Whatever conversation she wanted to have with Kiyosato, she didn’t want me lurking in the background and scowling. And whatever conversation she wanted to have with me afterwards, she would hardly have wanted him standing there. If Kiyosato was in that farmhouse, she would go there, and finally resolve things. The small detail that it was full of Shogunate supporters out for my blood who didn’t care whether she lived past her usefulness as bait was something that Enishi hadn’t bothered to…” Kenshin stopped and gritted his teeth. “I am being unfair,” he admitted. “Enishi was a child, and he was as deceived as any of us. He believed that this was what would get his sister back, and they could go home. If he’d known….”

He trailed off, once again looking into the distance. Kaoru swallowed. She knew, somehow, that what came next would be worse than anything Kenshin had told them already -worse than anything that had happened since she’d met him.

Exhaling, Kenshin said in a completely flat tone. “I had thought that I had saved Akira Kiyosato. I had failed. Enough of the rite had been completed that what they’d sought to summon had been able to latch onto the only remaining living human who had bound himself to the ritual. What had arrived at that farmhouse from Kyoto still looked human enough, I suppose- he must have; nobody had tried to set the building on fire before I arrived, and there was a notable lack of screaming and dismembered corpses. Well, not out in the yard, at any rate. They were holding him in one of the outbuildings, with some men who were supposed to mind him and make sure he kept out of the way, since he’d shown up unexpectedly and could potentially interfere with their plot to use Tomoe and kill me. I suspect they were very surprised when he started eating them.”

Yahiko looked ill.

“Their leader had the usual speech about their cause and my doom- I wasn’t really paying attention at that point; I was trying to find Tomoe, and couldn’t… it was Kiyosato, of course, but I didn’t realize; I thought that I was just more wounded than I had realized. At any rate, after several minutes of him posturing, there was a horrible noise and one of the outbuildings… exploded, is the only word I can think to describe it. What had previously been Kiyosato started rampaging across the yard, slaughtering everything that moved. When I saw that… I tried to run forward, but the idiot leading the group yelled and charged at me, still obsessed with the idea that this was the chance to kill me. I was frantic, and wounded; it was more of a fight than it should have been. And Tomoe…” he closed his eyes briefly.

“She had heard me call her name, but hadn’t been able to get past the men guarding her- not until they heard the noise and ran outside. And died. When she looked out… I can’t imagine what she must have thought. Me, covered in blood; that’s how we had met, she knew what I did, but Kiyosato…. The man she had loved since childhood; a man she knew as gentle and kind, a man who she’d frantically sought to find, to rescue from the violence she’d inadvertently sent him to…. He was tearing men limb from limb, his face distorted, blood dripping from his mouth. And there I was, the man she… the man she…” He clenched his fists. “I can’t imagine.”

Left unspoken was the fact that he must have tried, and that it must have been terrible.

“Kiyosato saw me and screamed a challenge; I yelled back, something, I don’t even remember what. We fought… he slashed me across the face.” Kenshin indicated his first scar. “Then he threw me against the building. I was realizing what had happened, what I had allowed to happen. Then… Tomoe tried to stop him, calling his name, desperate to reach the man he had been. For a moment, while I was still trying to get up, I thought it might work- but that was just me trying to assuage my own guilt; I knew that he was gone, that he….”

Kenshin picked up his glass, drank the remaining water, and put it back down on the table with extreme and precise control.

“He killed her. Before I could reach them; before she could finish saying his name; before I could finish screaming hers. She fell onto the snow, bleeding; there was so much blood. I wasn’t even thinking of surviving as I charged him; I don’t know how… _why_ … I did. And then there was silence. Absolute quiet. And I took her back home, to where we had been… where we had been happy.”

There was absolute quiet in the apartment as well.

After a minute, Kenshin continued. “So, that is why Enishi Yukishiro blames me for his sister’s death- because it’s my fault. He was there, in the woods. He saw the whole thing- it’s what turned his hair white overnight. I should have looked for him, afterwards, but I wasn’t… I wasn’t capable of thinking about anybody else’s loss. I stayed in Otsu until Katsura himself came to fetch me back. He told me that they’d realized Izuka was the traitor, and that it was being taken care of. Then he asked me to come back- not as an assassin, because he could tell that I would have laughed in his face. But the new world still needed building. I had sworn that, and I still believed that- and I refused to let Tomoe’s sacrifice be meaningless. But being an assassin… well. I couldn’t trust my own judgement- I had shown mercy, and it had backfired in the worst possible way. What would happen if I showed mercy again? Worse, what would happen if I went too far in the other direction, and truly became a monster? Being on the battlefield, having a defined conflict, was safer. Easier.”

He sighed. “And it was. Not… not in all ways, of course. But in some. And then the conflict ended, and I left my sword on the battlefield, and walked away. To try to see what this new world would look like, and whether it would be worth it. And… well, the rest you know.”

Kaoru was pretty sure that they didn’t know everything. But she wasn’t quite sure how she felt about what they had learned, and she still had questions about….

“Hang on, what about Enishi?” Yahiko demanded. “How come he ended up a sword? I mean, connected to a sword, and definitely lacking in feet when he isn’t paying attention?”

“Ah,” Kenshin said, and winced slightly. “Yes. That… yes. I don’t know what happened immediately after Otsu, but Enishi had learned that demons and monsters were incontrovertibly real. Which is traumatic information at the best of times, even in an age and a culture where that is part of how the world is supposed to work anyway. So. He ended up in Shanghai; I don’t know how. He was obsessed with learning how to hunt demons; I think he’d heard rumors of powerful magicians and demon-hunters who lived there. He got adopted by a wealthy family, but… they died. I suspect that they were also killed by demons, after one of Enishi’s early hunts went wrong, but I’ve never been able to confirm that. At any rate, he combined research and training and obsessive demon-hunting with running his adoptive father’s business- arms and munitions. I don’t think he cared about people dying, as long as he got his revenge against the supernatural. Including me.”

Yahiko’s eyes were the size of dinner plates. Kaoru made a mental note to tell Kenshin, Aoshi, and Saitoh- especially the latter two- not to answer any more questions her brother might have about demon-hunting as a viable career option.

“We faced off against each other several times. It was never conclusive. I tried to help him, but he wasn’t willing to listen. Our final confrontation was after Shishio; Enishi had collected a group of men who had grudges against me from during the Bakumatsu. Ironically, several of them had resorted to supernatural means to increase their fighting ability. Enishi hadn’t- he was far too stubborn. Saitoh and Aoshi helped me that time; we had formed something of an alliance, and they were both aware that supernaturally-powered fighters were not a threat that could be allowed to continue. I suspect that Aoshi, at least, was concerned that Shishio might find his way back, although he never mentioned it. I defeated Enishi, and told him that he was heading down a path that would bring him nowhere good; revenge was not what his sister would have wanted. I gave him her diary, which I had given to the temple where she was buried. I don’t know if it helped, or whether he would have tried to kill me again, but shortly after that he was killed in a fight against a very powerful demon, and… well, you’ve seen what happened.”

‘Yeah, but I don’t understand it,” Yahiko said matter-of-factly. “I mean, he’s a ghost… but he’s solid, and he can fight…. and… ummm…” He would have mentioned that he’d given up an hour of his life to Enishi, but decided that that was _definitely_ not something to mention when Kaoru could hear him. Ever.

“Ah.” Kenshin leaned forward. “Enishi died, but so did the demon. Which meant,” he said, gesturing with his hands, “that there was a lot of power floating around. And Enishi’s sword had some very strong blessings and charms on it from those magicians in Shanghai, plus several temples in Japan. All of that supernatural power, plus all of those demon-hunting charms, plus Enishi’s incredibly strong dying wish to keep going, to keep fighting- well, put that all together, and you can end up with a powerful spirit who is bound to an object, but who can act in the world just like he was still alive, as long as somebody….” Kenshin trailed off and looked at Yahiko, raising one eyebrow. Yahiko tried to look innocent while also indicating Kaoru, and a fight that nobody wanted to have right now or tomorrow or possibly ever, and Kenshin smoothly went back to his explanation “…has a worthy cause. Especially if it’s hunting a demon or supernaturally-powered human who is targeting somebody who is analogous to Tomoe.”

“Older sister,” Yahiko said quietly.

“Yes,” Kenshin answered, equally quietly.

“So… so what will happen to him now?” Kaoru asked. She wasn’t sure how she felt about somebody hunting Kenshin for years, but she felt a sharp sense of pity for a boy who had lost his sister so tragically, and even for a young man whose obsession had led to his own death.

“Well, if I know Saitoh- and, unfortunately, I do- Enishi is going to be offered a job, and get to spend a lot less time stuck in museums and a lot more time out in the field hunting down demons. Preferably very, very far away from me.”

There was a moment of silence that stretched on and on as none of the three could think of what, exactly, still needed to be said- or could be said right at that moment, when they were facing so much so soon.

Then Yahiko popped up from the couch like he’d sat on a pin and said, “Well, it’s late, I should go to bed, school tomorrow, you know how it is…. Umm.. thank you Kenshin, for sharing all of that, Kaoru, you have a good night, I’m gonna go to bed!”

With that, before Kaoru could do more than gape, he had dashed out of the room.

Standing up, she yelled after him, “What do you mean, ‘have a good night,’ I live here; you are in my apartment! You’re not even supposed to be staying here! Ughhh….”

Then, recollecting herself and what had just happened, she winced. “Sorry, Kenshin, that was.. um… probably too… probably not…. Umm…”

“It’s alright,” Kenshin said softly, standing next to her.

“I think he wanted to give us time to… to give me time to….” She trailed off again.

“Does it bother you that…” he started, at the same time as she said, “I’m not bothered by…”

They stopped.

Kaoru started again. “Of course you had people that were important to you. Of course you had people that you loved, in the past. I’m so sorry that it ended that way; that she died the way that she did, but… I’m glad that you had somebody who was there for you, when you were caught up in a role that was so horrible for you to be in. That’s all.”

He reached out, and before Kaoru knew it, he was clasping her tightly, leaning against her hair and just breathing.

Finally, he sighed and said, “And I am so glad for you, now. And earlier. You reminded me of some very important things about this world.”

“What, by stabbing you a lot?”

He managed a slight chuckle. “That was a definite reminder of human spirit, and not to underestimate it. But I meant the ability to fight against overwhelming odds, and even the stubbornness of dealing with things day-to-day, and not letting them beat you down. I don’t know that you even know how much you shine, Kaoru, or what it means.”

He kissed her, the merest brush of his lips against hers, soft and surprisingly sweet. Then he exhaled and let go, trailing his fingers through her hair before saying, “Good night, Kaoru. And thank you, for everything.”

Kaoru replied, “Good night, Kenshin. And… you’re welcome.”

With a smile and a slight nod, he left, closing the door carefully behind him.

Kaoru poured herself another glass of water and looked out the window at the waning moon for long minutes afterwards.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author’s note: *puts canon in a blender and hits “puree”….* So, if you’ve read the manga as well as having seen the "Trust and Betrayal" OVA, you may recall that there are some differences- in the OVA, Izuka tells Kenshin that Tomoe is a traitor and hates Kenshin for killing her fiancé, and that Katsura has ordered Kenshin to kill her, and Kenshin heads out into the forest in a state of despair and grief and general confusion; in the manga, Enishi tells Kenshin that Tomoe is being held captive, and Kenshin heads out in a state of being absolutely furious (to the point where he does, in fact, cut off a guy’s arms and then throw them at him). The manga also does a lot more with the idea that the forest is one of those “dead” areas that turn up in anime and manga whenever you want to give a character with preternaturally good ki-sensing abilities a significant handicap.


	42. The Answer

“I’m just saying, that part of the plot made no sense!”

Kaoru and Yahiko exchanged looks as they heard Katsu’s strident tones. They couldn’t quite hear Misao’s response, but they could practically hear Sano’s eyeroll from the entrance hallway to the bar.

“Look, the family was cursed, right? If every member of the bloodline dies before they eliminate Dracula; boom, everybody’s souls go to Hell; only two remaining members are left, and if they both die, it’s fire and brimstone all round. So why the heck are both of them trying to hunt monsters? It’s stupid! One of them should be focused on, you know, making sure that they are not the last members of the family.”

As the Kamiya siblings brushed past the bead curtain that Sano insisted on trying to put up whenever he thought Katsu wouldn’t notice, they finally came into the main part of the bar, where Sano was putting away beer, Misao was giving Katsu a skeptical look, and Katsu was holding forth with dramatic arm gestures. Shroedinger, who had been basking in attention from Misao, rolled gracelessly off of the couch and came over to investigate whether his regular humans might have brought tuna. Finding none, he flicked his tail in annoyance and stalked off, possibly to see if the basement had anything in the way of mice.

“So, what exactly are you suggesting?” Misao asked, in a tone that implied that she’d guessed what Katsu was suggesting and was prepared to go to the mattresses on behalf of Anna Valerious’ monster-hunting career.

“It’s simple! Anna goes out and kills monsters, and Velken spends his time trying to knock up every barmaid and innkeeper’s daughter in Transylvania! I mean, sheesh, even if he’s only banging one girl a night, statistically that’s…. ohhhh, heeeyyy, Kaoru. And, um, Kaoru’s kid brother, who almost definitely should not have heard that …..”

Yahiko opened his mouth to say something that almost definitely would have been inappropriate, but rapidly shut it as Kaoru shot him a sharp glare that threatened an even sharper elbow to the ribs.

Misao jumped up from where she had been lounging and said, “Changing the topic…”

Sano muttered, “Thank goodness” under his breath as he sat down next to Misao on one of the couches that he and Katsu had dragged between the armchairs that were usually around one a low table, creating a rough circle.

“… I said, _changing the topic_ ,” Misao repeated, “we’re still waiting for Megumi, and the… guys? Demons? Demonic guys? Anyway… before they get here, feel free to grab a beverage and some snacks.”

After doing that, Kaoru and Yahiko made small talk about their days at school and their respective kendo classes. By mutual agreement in the car on the way over, they’d agreed that last night’s incident at the museum should wait until everybody was in the room- and they were pretty sure, from the conversation they’d interrupted, that Sano and Misao were doing the same thing.

It didn’t take too long for Megumi to show up, looking slightly more harried than usual, while still managing to look elegant.

“I know, I’m late; I’m sorry- I had to catch up on some things that I missed yesterday because I was looking for….. well, you know.”

Gratefully accepting a glass of wine from Sano, she sat down in an armchair across from him.

“So, what did you find out?” she asked.

“Err… we were sort of waiting until everybody showed up,” Sano said apologetically.

“Fair enough,” she said, shrugging. “I think they were right behind me, though, so they should be here…”

As she was speaking, Kenshin, Aoshi, and Saitoh walked into the bar. Katsu looked like he was trying very hard to think of a joke, but was having some trouble with the wording.

“Well, we’re all here so, why don’t we…” Sano trailed off at Aoshi’s raised eyebrow, then looked at Misao, then back at Aoshi… and then rapidly relocated from the couch to one of the armchairs.

Aoshi sat down and pulled Misao up against him. Off of several startled looks around the room, he calmly said, “My girlfriend is upset and needs a hug.”

Misao blinked, flushing slightly. “Um…. that is…I mean, yes? To both. Both the girlfriend thing and the, um, being upset. And also needing a hug. Um. Three things. Yes to all three of those things.

Yahiko, who had claimed space next to Kaoru on the other couch, gave his sister a cheeky grin as he moved to one of the armchairs. Kenshin looked smug as he sat down next to her, but refrained from cuddling. Yet.

Deliberately ignoring the displays of affection, Saitoh took a seat in the last armchair. Meanwhile, Katsu started washing glasses, clearly angling for a reason to stay in the room.

There was an awkward moment of silence.

Feeling very much like a teacher with a group of students, none of whom wanted to be the first to talk, Kaoru said, “Yahiko, shall we start off by talking about what happened at the museum?”

“Ummm…. Well, I mean… not a lot? There was that guy, Chou, and he kidnapped Yutaro, and then used his blood to get into the sword exhibit to steal stuff, and then you were fighting with him, and then I woke up a sword ghost and he went to help you, and Chou got sucked into one of his own blades, and then Kenshin showed up and Enishi yelled at him because… never mind.”

The four people who hadn’t been at the museum the previous night all looked at Yahiko as if he’d grown another head.

Noticing the way that they were staring at him, Yahiko clarified, “Nothing about Shishio! I mean, Chou was pretty clear that he wasn’t working with the guy; he was just… you know, trying to rob the place before…. Ohhhhhhhhh.”

Realizing what Yahiko was getting at, Kaoru echoed him, her own eyes opening wide.

“Saturday!” they said at the same time.

“Chou mentioned that he had originally been wanting to get out of town before Saturday,” Kaoru said, excitedly.

Aoshi looked thoughtful. “It would make sense,” he finally said. “It’s the new moon; no better time for the kind of ritual that they’re trying to finish.”

If Saitoh had been the kind of person to really smile, Kaoru was pretty sure he would have been doing it. As it was, he managed to look cheerfully predatory, but only if you knew what you were looking for.

“Well, whatever they’re doing, they’ll have a fair amount of blood to work with,” Megumi remarked. As everybody turned to look at her, she continued, “The short version is that not all of the recent local blood drives have been… shall we say…completely official. If you need exact numbers, I have notes. That doesn’t mean that the numbers are accurate; I can’t vouch for there not having been additional fake blood drives. It’s not really the sort of thing I can just call my colleagues about and inquire about subtly.”

“Numbers would be a place to start, if you can give them to me,” Aoshi remarked. “Then I can start figuring out what they would be able to do with it, based on how recently it was collected.”

Misao sat up a bit, and she and Sano exchanged looks. Taking a deep breath, she started out.

“Umm… I think that we know what they did with some of it? There was this room that… I mean, I think… Sano and I… we found…” Aoshi took her hand, clearly trying to comfort her. Misao started again, “Okay, look, first of all, creepy zombie skin puppets, that was…. Not good. Definitely bad. And, um, also there was a room that was… I mean, blood, everywhere, painted into these symbols, and … it was… _wrong_. Like…. If Megumi hadn’t called when she did…” She shuddered.

“It was…” Sano swallowed, clearly disturbed. “Look, I worked in this bar once that was just… a complete trash heap. The owner was one of those guys who could get you all kinds of stuff for a good time; pretty sure he was connected to some even worse folks. Anyway, there was this back room that always smelled like….like a whole bunch of really bad, violent stuff had happened, and they’d decided to dump a barrel of bleach in there to try to clean it up, but it hadn’t really worked. This was worse. A lot worse.”

“I don’t think that people who go into that room come out again, so much.” Misao finished.

“Creepy zombie skin puppet time?” Yahiko guessed, looking revolted.

“Yeaaaaah… I’m…. gonna say that’s a pretty decent guess.”

“How many? What did they do?” Saitoh demanded.

“Umm… we met two of them. There was a secretary and a… manager guy? I guess?”

“They were kind of… well, not stupid, exactly.” Sano added. “Like…. they were running on a specific track, and if you tried to get them to do something else, they had trouble handling it.”

“Hey, you used that to get us out; don’t knock the single-track creepy zombie mind.”

“What did you do?” Kenshin asked, leaning forward intently.

Misao looked thoughtful. “Well, when Judy- the zombie secretary- talked to us, she kind of had… things that she knew to say, in response to what we were asking, but not… not a lot of really independent thought, more like programming, I guess. And then, with the suit zombie, he ... it… was supposed to show us the warehouse and we saw… we saw… the room….Megumi called, and he didn’t really register that; he was standing there like he was waiting for somebody to tell him what to do next. So Sano started saying that it was a shame we couldn’t see the warehouse, and I chimed in, and after a couple of minutes of us telling him that we hadn’t been able to see the warehouse he just kind of…accepted that we hadn’t seen it, and needed to go back to make an appointment with zombie secretary lady.”

“It was because Gohei wasn’t there,” Sano said. “I mean… obviously, he wasn’t there, on account of the whole… dead and then deader thing, but officially, they kept talking about him being in China, and I kind of used that as the reason why we would have to come back later.”

“They were doubtless some of the previous employees,” Aoshi remarked. “After Gohei died, they probably saw something they shouldn’t have… or else Gein just got bored. Hard to tell.”

Nobody really wanted to say anything in response to that for a minute.

Then Yahiko said, “Hang on- he can’t have just had two people working there, right? I mean, wasn’t it supposed to be a big building?”

“There are three possibilities,” Saitoh replied. “He could have actually tried to keep as few people on the payroll as possible; from a financial standpoint, the entire operation was held together with duct tape and a hope that the IRS wouldn’t look too closely. There could have been warehouse workers who were also part of the operation against the Kamiya Dojo, in which case they were also dead and then, err, deader, as you said.”

He stopped.

“What… what’s the third possibility?” Kaoru asked, hesitantly.

“Let’s just say that I don’t expect a single extra blood drive would have been enough.”

Nobody really wanted to say anything in response to that, either.

Eager to change the subject, Misao piped up, ‘Oh, there was another guy… less… zombified, I guess. Judy called him, and he’s the one who foisted us off on the manager zombie.”

“Oh, yeah,” Sano said, “Skinny guy, brown plaid suit, looked like he’d just stepped in something that smelled bad…”

“Hoji,” Kenshin said thoughtfully. “Well, good to have him accounted for, at least.”

“Gutless sycophant,” Saitoh muttered under his breath.

Aoshi grimaced. “Don’t count him out; he’s clearly done a lot of the organizing, and he’s got to be the one running the ritual this weekend.”

Yahiko raised his hand, then looked abashed as he realized that they weren’t in school anymore.

“Err… is anybody keeping a count of all these guys? Like, who is going to be there on Saturday, and how much of a problem are they going to be and… stuff.”

“Hoji, obviously, is going to be there,” Kenshin said. “And Soujiro, of course. Possibly Henya, but he may also be still confined until Shishio manifests. The, err, zombie skin puppets- less of a threat than Soujiro, but they may have, um, had some modifications that you didn’t have to see the other day. And there may be more of those Owls.”

“You know, fire and some good explosives could be a really good way to take care of all this even before… what?” Katsu shrugged “I’m just saying!”

“What about Shishio?” Sano asked. “How much of a problem is he gonna be? Scale of, I dunno, gutless sycophant to murder boy?”

“Shishio will only show up if the ritual is fully completed.”

Kaoru cocked her head at something in Kenshin’s tone. “Um…. just to check,” she asked carefully, “are we trying to make sure that that _doesn’t_ happen, or that it _does_ happen?”

The three demons looked at each other, clearly hoping somebody else would say something first.

“Hang on,” Sano frowned. “What do you mean, make sure that it _does_ happen? I mean, isn’t the whole point to prevent the forces of evil from completing their ritual of, um, even more evil?”

Megumi looked thoughtful. “You’re trying to fix the screw-up from last time. I mean,” she hastened to add, “not that you screwed things up on purpose, but when you killed Shishio and sent him to Hell….”

“You struck him down and he became more powerful than you could possibly imagine!” Misao finished, wide-eyed.

Even Kenshin looked disgruntled at that.

Finally, he said, “Yes.”

“Yes you screwed up, or yes you are planning to let the horrible blood ritual be completed because otherwise you’re just going to have to do this again in another hundred years when Shishio figures out yet another way back?”

He winced. “Both, really.”

Aoshi and Saitoh glared at him, but Kenshin just picked up his drink and quietly said, “This isn’t the moment to lie, and you both know it. Yes, we should have considered the possibility that somebody like Shishio would not be stopped by death the first time; and, yes, we want to make absolutely sure that he is completely destroyed this time.”

“And the only way to do that is have him physically manifest,” Aoshi explained. “We can destroy the physical body he’s using, but unless we also destroy his spirit, the possibility remains that he can gather power again.”

“I keep saying, explosives would really…. Fine, fine, I will go finish cataloging the new shipment and organizing the beers. I’ll be down in the basement if anybody needs me.”

“What about his sword?” Yahiko asked, clearly flashing back to many Saturday afternoon sword-and-sorcery movie marathons.

Saitoh nodded curtly, as if Yahiko had given an unexpected correct answer in class. “Destroying his sword is obviously going to be important.”

“Mount Doom,” Sano muttered under his breath, just as Misao piped up with, “Big hammer?”

Aoshi looked back and forth between them, opened his mouth, then closed it again.

Kenshin winced and said, “Much as it pains me to admit it, I think that Misao is… well, it’s a more likely option than locating a volcano in the area.”

Sano perked up immediately, “Hey, if you guys need some big hammers- I mean, like, construction-style, breaking-down-walls size, I can get those, no problem!”

All three of the demons looked slightly ill at the thought of bashing a historically-important blade created by one of the foremost swordsmiths in Japan with a hammer.

Finally, Kenshin swallowed and said, “Thank you, Sano… that would be… great.”

Megumi, who had been quietly making notes, said, “Okay, so, Sano’s on giant hammer duty- I’m assuming that will also include using the giant hammer?”

“Hey, how come I can’t…” both Yahiko and Misao started at the same time, then glared at each other.

Sano shrugged. “I can get more than one hammer; not a problem.”

“You’re assuming that you will be there on Saturday,” Saitoh noted, frowning.

“Well, yeah,” Misao replied. “I mean, you need us to get there, and, um,” she gestured vaguely, “to help out with the hitting stuff.”

Kaoru, sensing that the conversation was about to go slightly sideways, said, “And some of us have fighting skills that you might need to deal with any lower-level minions, so that you three can focus on the big bad guys.”

Kenshin and Aoshi did not look happy, but as they were clearly trying to come up with a persuasive set of arguments, Megumi cut in.

“You mentioned that last time Shishio sent minions to try to take out your allies, correct? What makes you think that he won’t try that again? Wouldn’t it make more sense to have assistance and know where we all are?”

Aoshi grimaced slightly, but nodded. “There are some protections that will work over a limited area,” he allowed, “and if you’re there with us, it will be easier to keep you safe without them being completely obvious. Supernatural barriers in the middle of town would look… odd.”

“We can ask gramps for some of his protective charms, too!” Yahiko said.

Saitoh pinched his nose and shook his head, but refrained from comment.

Megumi looked at her notes and said, “Right, so- Kaoru and Yahiko will bring their own weapons; Sano will get hammers.”

“Wait; what are you going to do?”

Her smile was grim. “I have some ideas; don’t worry.”

Before anybody could ask for details- or be obviously _avoiding_ asking for details, Misao frowned.

“Hang on,” she said again, “What about Yumi?”

Kaoru and Megumi looked at Misao and then chimed in with a “Right!” and “That’s right!”

Aoshi looked puzzled for a moment, then said, “Huh. I hadn’t considered… I suppose that she would either get physically resurrected as well, or her ashes would just get subsumed into the reconstruction of Shishio’s body. There probably won’t be enough of the ashes that were originally _him_ , and so the spells will just have to grab whatever other material is…..”

He trailed off as the women looked at him with identical, appalled expressions.

“That’s not fair!” Misao exclaimed. “I mean, she shouldn’t just get used to… to… bring him back.”

“You do realize that she did sacrifice her life for him the first time?”

‘That’s not the point,” Kaoru said, glaring at her supervisor. “The point is that ‘her ashes will just get used to help rebuild the guy who _killed her_ ’ is… well, like she said: it’s totally unfair!”

Kenshin looked slightly embarrassed as he said, “I’m sorry, but… Aoshi’s right. And….” He sighed. “Hoji could, possibly, have prepared to resurrect both of them. It’s impossible to say without getting a good look at all of his ritual preparations in detail. But it’s a lot more likely that he would choose to only bring Shishio back, even if that meant leaving Yumi behind, or even destroying her utterly.”

“Is this one of those vaguely homoerotic ‘I must get rid of the woman my evil boss loves so that he will only think about me’ situations?” Misao demanded.

“No! … well, maybe,” Saitoh admitted, looking slightly uncomfortable.

Megumi muttered something under her breath that sounded highly uncomplimentary towards Hoji, or possibly the patriarchy.

Valiantly trying to get the conversation back on track, Yahiko said, “So… Sano’s getting some big hammers, and Kaoru and I are showing up with bokken…”

“… and pepper spray,” Kaoru added, “and whatever else we think we might need.”

“Right. So, we show up and then what? I mean, we take out the minions of evil, obviously, but how do we do that, while you three are waiting in the wings until Shishio actually shows up, without making it obvious that, you know, you guys are just waiting for the main event?”

“I can’t believe I’m going to say this,” Kenshin said, grimacing. “but I think we need to ask your friend for some of those explosives.”

“WOOOO-HOOOOO!!!” came a voice from the basement. 

* * *

By the time the meeting ended, Kaoru was confident that they had something resembling a plan. Misao and Sano had provided a rough map of the building, and where the “room of doom,” as Sano kept referring to it, was located. Aoshi and Katsu had gotten involved in a very technical conversation about blast radii and fuses, and Saitoh had only gone outside for a cigarette twice.

She wasn’t exactly sure when Hannya had appeared in the corner of the bar, but Aoshi had quickly ended his conversation with Katsu shortly after noticing the spirit’s presence, moving swiftly over to engage in a rapid, hushed conversation that nobody else could quite catch. As Hannya disappeared again, Aoshi looked… not exactly cheerful, she thought, but as if he’d just had something confirmed. Walking over to Misao, he’d kissed her and whispered something in her ear that made her blush all the way out the door. After watching her go, he headed out of the bar’s back exit, tersely nodding goodnight to the rest of them.

Kaoru was vaguely paying attention to Sano as he made a list of guys he knew in construction who owed him favors and trying to make sure that Yahiko’s enthusiastic suggestions for additional equipment didn’t get too crazy when Megumi came up to her following a very energetic conversation with Kenshin and Saitoh that had ended with them nodding and her taking notes.

“Does your grandfather still make charms?” she asked, her tone casual.

“Ummm…. I guess?” Kaoru said. “I mean, he’s over in Sunny Pines, but anything he didn’t bring with him is probably still at the dojo. Last time we visited he made some jokes about running a side business in luck charms for the poker crowd.” Her expression turned troubled as she continued, “Although… I mean, he knows about the charms I asked about for the sword, but I didn’t exactly tell him the whole story.”

“Oh, he knows,” Yahiko spoke up next to Kaoru, startling her.

“Yahiko, I thought you were talking with Sano about… wait, he _what_?”

Her brother snorted. “Like you’re the only person who ever talks with him? Also, um, I may have had a long conversation with him about how to protect the dojo after Dad got attacked.”

“Oh,” Kaoru said, swallowing. “That… that makes sense.”

“Right,” Megumi broke in, “Think he’d mind some visitors tomorrow afternoon, say around three, when I get off my shift?”

Kaoru grinned slowly as she realized what Megumi was asking. “No,” she replied, “I think that sounds like a great idea. I’ll talk to Misao; we can meet up there, okay?”

Megumi grinned back as Sano came up and put his arms around her.

“Well, babe, I think we’re ready to go- can’t call these guys tonight, but they should be around tomorrow.”

Yahiko, realizing that everybody was leaving, waved at them as he made a final raid on the snacks. Rolling her eyes, Kaoru decided that she could give him a couple of minutes. Saitoh and Kenshin headed towards the door, and she could hear the former finishing whatever he’d been saying as they approached.

“… conversation that you need to have,” Saitoh said, his tone sterner than normal, “Leaving it this long is already ridiculous.”

Kenshin looked pained, but unable to muster up a good reply. 

“I am aware of that,” he finally replied.

“Took long enough,” Saitoh muttered under his breath as he gave a curt nod to Kaoru and headed out the door.

Kenshin sighed, leaning against the wall next to Kaoru, his expression a million miles away. Looking at him, Kaoru frowned.

Something was clearly bothering him. Well, she amended, any number of things were probably bothering him, and figuring out all of them and what order they were in would take way too long, even if Kenshin could untangle them.

Making a decision, she moved so that she was standing in front of him and wrapped her arms around him, curling into his warmth. Off of his slightly startled expression, she grinned.

“My boyfriend is upset and needs a hug.”

For a split-second he didn’t move, then he registered what she’d said. He grinned, and his expression slightly wicked as he bent down and kissed her, pulling her close enough that she was dizzy with it as his mouth swept over hers.

She was pretty sure that it would have gotten a lot more intense- she was pretty sure she wanted it to- but their embrace was interrupted by Yahiko’s outraged squawk as he realized what they were doing.

Kenshin broke their embrace, moving slowly enough to make it obvious that he was very reluctant, and ignoring how Yahiko was still making sputtering noises and looking horrified. He kept one arm around Kaoru’s waist, holding her close to his side, as he winked and said, “I appreciate that you want to…. make me feel better.”

She would have considered smacking his arm at his tone, but she found that she couldn’t quite get offended.

With a sigh, Kenshin let go and nodded at both of them. “You should head back home; it’s getting late, and this is going to be a busy week.”

“What about you?” she asked.

“I… need to go talk to Hiko,” he said, wincing slightly. “But I will definitely see you tomorrow.”

He hugged her briefly again, but, mindful of her brother standing there, contented himself with a much briefer, closed-mouth kiss. As he left, Yahiko started to say something, stopped, started again, and then just shook his head.

“Let’s head home,” he finally said. Then, as they exited the building, he gave her a mischievous grin. “So, Yutaro invited me for a sword project-related sleepover tomorrow. Guess we can’t meet up after class to talk more about plans for foiling evil. So you should have plenty of time alone in your apartment, in case, you know, your boyfriend needed another “hug” and you wanted to ……”

Blushing and yelling, Kaoru smacked him and chased him out to the car as he laughed. 

* * *

The cemetery was not usually this dark. Aoshi had spent the afternoon making sure that none of the lighting was functional, and he was pleased to see that his efforts had not gone to waste. He was also glad that it was after Halloween; now that they were safely into November and the nights were getting noticeably colder, there was a much lower chance that there would be idiot teenagers with either alcohol or general thoughts of vandalism.

From his perch in one of the picturesque trees that dotted the landscape, he kept a sharp eye on one particular cluster of graves, laid out in a graceful curve along an equally-curving path.

Normally, he couldn’t care less about Victorian cemetery landscaping practices; however, in this case, they were proving to be surprisingly useful.

The graves in question had been dug roughly a month ago, and re-dug much more recently- although almost nobody else would be able to tell. He supposed that it was fortunate that the revived corpses summoned by Gohei Hiruma had not been out for long enough that anybody could see the disturbances and become suspicious.

Theoretically, there was a night patrol, but Aoshi had been observing the man for several nights, and had concluded that his “patrolling” routine consisted of driving around the outer path with a golf cart as fast as he could manage two or three times a night, depending on how much time the man wanted to spend away from whatever was on television.

‘ _Although who knows; perhaps if he heard noises, he would investigate.’_

Aoshi was confident that his own alarms and alerts would be much more functional than anything in the caretaker’s small hut- especially since he had also disabled the cameras around the outside of the cemetery by setting them up to permanently show an empty, peaceful array of headstones and unfortunate Victorian funerary sculptures.

Patiently, he sat, and watched, and waited.

Shortly after midnight- and he had to restrain from snorting audibly at the cliché- there was a faint noise, and a swirl of what most people would assume to be fog. A black-clad figure with the face of a skull crept noiselessly forward, towards the set of tombstones.

When he had reached the center of the arch, he pulled a piece of chalk out from under his robes and moved forward, clearly intending to begin making marks on the closest stone. However, the minute his foot pressed on the turf in front of it, there was a noise and a net of wires exploded out, surrounding him.

Dropping quietly down from the tree branch, Aoshi calmly said, “Hello, Gein.”

Breaking out in wheezing laughter, the skull-faced figure said, “Shinomori, I might have known; I might have known. Still serving as errand-boy, sent to fetch me back to your masters?”

“No; I’m here to make sure that you don’t leave this place alive.”

If the man had had visible eyes, Aoshi was sure that he would have seen them rolling. “Always the grand speeches. I take it that my corpses aren’t here?”

“No,” Aoshi said again. “You won’t be able to make use of those young men a second time.”

“I didn’t make use of them the first time! Such a waste! I mean, zombies- have you ever heard of something more cliché? But you know Hoji; the contract with that idiot Hiruma said that his followers were bound to him in life and in death, and so that’s what we got. I tried to get him to let me at least improve them before we sent them off, but he wouldn’t hear of it. It’s enough to make an artist like myself…”

In the midst of his rant, Gein brought his hands up sharply, flinging a set of glittering wires out to slice through the net he was caught in. Aoshi was barely fast enough to leap away from the sparkling arc that they cut around the black-robed, skeletal figure.

Gein’s voice was cheerful as he remarked, “Not bad for an old man, eh? You thought that you could catch me with a mere net; the young are so foolish.”

Refusing to respond, Aoshi instead drew his kodachi and prepared to engage. As he leapt forward, slashing in both directions, he sliced through the wires, leaping back and cursing under his breath as the ends writhed and reached for him.

“Tell me, Shinomori, why are you doing this?”

“Why am I going to kill you?”

“That hasn’t been determined yet,” Gein said, amused. “And it’s not what I meant. Why are you pretending to be part of the light, when we both know that you’re a creature of the dark?”

Aoshi raised an eyebrow.

“You were born and raised to the shadows- and you yourself followed that path further than any of your forebearers. Your accomplishments are still spoken of! If you joined us, think of the progress that you’d be able to make! Think of the world that you’d be able to help us build! Hoji may be a moron, but Shishio will be back soon, and the world will be ours for the rebuilding!”

“I wasn’t that interested in his rebuilding last time, old man. What makes you think that his ideas would be more attractive this time around?”

Charging forward, Aoshi slashed upwards with his left hand.

“I’ve found my peace- found my place…”

He sliced through Gein’s mask to reveal an equally-skeletal face, with eyes sunk deep into their sockets and jaundiced-looking skin stretched tight over bone.

“Being in the shadows just means I can deal with threats that need eliminating.”

The older man let out a screech and jumped away, his hands reaching under his robes to pull out a small vial that he dashed to the ground. A noxious-smelling liquid splashed, sending up wisps of green vapor.

Aoshi backed away before the spreading puddle could reach him.

Gein said mockingly, “Not so brave now, are you?”

“Don’t be an idiot; being brave doesn’t mean being foolhardy. Besides which….” Aoshi feinted to the left, then dashed right, around the edges of the puddle, “your techniques leave a great deal to be desired. Much like your office-puppets, by the way.”

The old man snorted as he threw a handful of small blades, their edges glinting sharply. Aoshi slashed and deflected almost all of them, staggering slightly as two hit his upper leg.

“Not my best work, I’ll admit,” said Gein. “Although you really can’t expect me to do much with Hoji breathing down my neck and restricting my true genius. It took three tries before I could produce a warehouse manager that met with his approval- he kept complaining that the eyeballs weren’t right, or that people would notice if one arm ended in razor-edged fingernails! No appreciation for craftsmanship nowadays! And don’t get me started on the vocal subroutines.”

Aoshi almost missed the way that Gein’s hands twitched, tossing something into the green puddle that made it billow up into noxious, choking smoke. Pulling his scarf up over his face, he dashed backwards and along a diagonal, careful to stay out of range.

From within the cloud, Gein’s voice continued to whine about the restrictions he’d been forced to work under as he’d turned the last of Gohei Hiruma’s hapless employees into mindless drones. Aoshi tuned out the details, listening instead for the faint sound of footsteps. Taking a deep breath, he charged forward, slashing his blades to both disperse the vapors and drive Gein backwards, further into the cemetery.

Gein broke off his litany of complaint and gave a mocking bow to the younger man, his hands reaching into his sleeves. As he stood up, he pulled them out, throwing a tangle of wires forward. Aoshi deflected one set with his kodachi, sending it back to wrap around Gein’s torso and leg. The rest, however, wrapped around Aoshi’s arms, pinning them.

Gein gave an unpleasant, barking laugh. “Ah, you young people; always so overconfident. Unlike your foolish wire net, I’ve made sure to coat these in oil. You won’t be able to escape the flames- unless you agree to rejoin Shishio and return to where you belong! I’m sure that we can come to an agreement that will be beneficial to everybody, and let you be a true artist of shadows!”

Expressionless, Aoshi simply replied, “No.”

He brought up both kodachi, slicing through the wires that were binding his arms. Blood dripped from where they’d cut him, but he ignored it in favor of looking calmly over at Gein, still trapped in his own wires.

Aoshi’s smile was even more skeletal than Gein’s mask had been as he snapped his fingers and produced a single spark that leapt across to the wires. The coated surface, just as Gein had said, caught fire immediately, the flames spreading faster than a single breath to where he was entangled. His screams echoed across the cemetery.

But not for very long.

Sighing, Aoshi winced and headed out.

“Hannya?”

“Yes, commander?”

“Please see what you can do about cleaning up that mess before daybreak.”

“Yes, commander.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In this chapter I don’t own: The Van Helsing movie, The Lord of the Rings, or The Golden Girls (specifically Shady Pines 😉 ).


	43. Moonbeams and Lace

It wasn’t, Kaoru told herself, as if she had a problem admitting certain facts to herself. She was more than capable of dealing with the truth, however the truth needed to be dealt with.

Of course, figuring out exactly what “dealing with it” entailed was another issue altogether.

Letting out a despondent sigh, Kaoru stirred her coffee and tried, once again, to organize her thoughts.

Fact: Kenshin, although a demon, was not in fact a villain, vandal, varlot, or any of the other negative terms usually associated with the word “demon.” Instead, he was something more along the lines of—she grimaced at her brother’s exuberant term—a demonic secret agent, who skulked for the side of good.

Fact: She trusted him; she knew that. In fact, she’d trusted him even before he’d told her the truth about what he did. He made her feel safe and secure, and cherished. He had proven that he wanted to take care of her, and protect her, but that he wasn’t going to try to keep her wrapped up in cotton and prevent her from being her own person, even if she was potentially in a dangerous situation.

Fact: Ever since… well, at least since Halloween, and probably earlier, if she was insisting on being completely honest with herself, she had been… well… having a lot less success valiantly resisting her own feelings. And, without even panicking about it or over-thinking it, she had quite cheerfully referred to him as her boyfriend. In front of other people.

And his kisses… she blushed. Well. And her kissing him back. And, this last time, her just straight-up kissing him. After, she thought again, having actually called him her boyfriend, which implied… well, a lot more than kissing.

Kaoru wasn’t sure what color her face was, but was fairly sure it resembled a tomato at this point. She tried to calm down and ended up having a coughing fit that almost led to a serious coffee-related incident in the teacher’s lounge.

_‘OK... so...having kissed him, and used word “boyfriend,” I guess that I have now given myself permission to... what, exactly? Ask him if he would like to go to a movie sometime when he’s not busy saving the world? Go knock on his door with homemade cookies... well, from store-bought cookie dough? Tackle him onto the nearest flat surface and ravish him senseless?’_

Kaoru put her coffee mug into the sink and rinsed it out, still considering. It wasn’t a situation she had had to deal with before, and she wasn’t really sure who she could talk to about it.

Scratch that; she was pretty sure she couldn’t talk to _anybody_ about it, since all the candidates either a) were going to respond with squeals and dragging her out to shop for new lingerie while giving her all sorts of tips that would have her turning the color of a fire engine, or b) were Kenshin.

Which left her on her own. 

_‘How exactly does one go about... I mean, am I really thinking about seducing him, or doesn’t it count when he’s already kind of been seducing me? Or trying to. Just not as much lately, what with… everything else. Does that mean that we have to start from the beginning? I mean, if he thinks that I’m not... but I really think that I am... I mean, the way he makes me feel... and he smells really good, and his hands are...’_

Kaoru suddenly realized that she was staring blankly at the tiles behind the sink again, and shook her head. Frankly, at the moment, her wanting Kenshin wasn’t the most important issue. She still had a day of work to get through in a reasonably non-distracted fashion.

_‘The rest of this can wait. And I will NOT spend the entire walk down the hallway remembering how it felt that first time Kenshin was kissing my neck... probably. Darn it, I HAD to start thinking about that, didn’t I.’_

* * *

After school, before going to visit her grandfather, Kaoru went to the mall. She wasn’t entirely sure why, but it felt like it was equal parts wanting to distract herself from Kenshin-centered thoughts and trying to find something to wear that would manage to distract him from his efforts to hold back where she was concerned.

_‘Wrong sleeves... wrong fabric... ok, that might be roughly the message I’m trying to get across, but there’s no WAY I’m saying it like THAT... wrong color...’_ Kaoru thought to herself as she looked through a row of t-shirts in one of the more sequin-and-neon-oriented stores in the mall.

_‘Do I really want to get a whole new outfit for this? I mean, given everything else, is this even the right time to…. are we even at the point where we should... Darn it, why isn’t there a book about these things, with flowcharts and appropriate Venn diagrams?’_

Sighing, Kaoru admitted to herself that there probably _were_ books, doubtless a whole entire section of the bookstore; they just weren’t anything that she wanted to read. At all.

The bigger question, she realized, was that she wasn’t sure whether it was better to… she faltered momentarily, trying to find the right words.

_‘Make advances? Initiate… umm… No, that sounds silly… Ugh, I need coffee. Now, and in large amounts...’_

As Kaoru sat down with her latte machiatto, she had a sudden memory of the time Kenshin had accosted her at the mall, when she was with Misao and Megumi.

_‘What? I was afraid Kaoru was going to be a virgin forever...’_

In the current context, namely, the fact that Kaoru was pretty sure she _wasn’t_ going to be a virgin for that much longer, Misao’s remark was even more embarrassing to think about. Mostly because it brought her thoughts back to Kenshin, and the incident in the dressing room, and the way his voice had sounded as he’d said...

“Hello there, kitten; is there room for one more?”

Fortunately for Kenshin, he was standing behind her. Otherwise, Kaoru was fairly sure his shirt would have been a lost cause.

_‘And I don’t have a sweatshirt to inflict on him, so he’d have to be shirtless... stop that! What is WRONG with me?’_

To cover her embarrassment, Kaoru snapped, “What are you doing, sneaking around like that? It’s dangerous to a person’s sanity, _and_ harmful to their coffee.”

“Definitely the worse sin of the two,” Kenshin said with a smile, coming around to face her. “Allow me to make up for it by buying you another.”

She glared at him for several seconds before nodding. “Fine. But I don’t have time to talk; I’m shopping for... um.. things.”

He raised one eyebrow at that, but managed to keep his expression under control. At least mostly; Kaoru was fairly certain that his lips twitched slightly. Before she could think of anything else to say, Kenshin was walking over to the counter to place the order. She watched the way he moved, until she caught herself, blushed, and decided to focus on cleaning the spilt coffee off of the table.

By the time he came back, bearing not only coffee but a plate with two of the triple-chocolate-death brownies she had a weakness for, everything was cleaned up and the table looked reasonably respectable again. She’d even had time to toss the napkins into the garbage can.

Sitting down next to her with an easy grace that Kaoru envied, Kenshin handed her her replacement coffee and put the brownies in the middle of the table.

“So, um, Kenshin, what are you doing here?” Kaoru finally asked, searching for a neutral topic. “I mean... um.. you’re not working, are you? Shishio’s henchmen aren’t around, or….. ”

She looked around nervously, hoping that the coffee shop employees weren’t going to turn out to be sacrificing goats in the back room. It would really be a shame to lose the only decent coffee in the entire mall to demonic violence.

He grinned at her. “I wanted to do some shopping, Kaoru. I do shop, you know.”

“Oh.” Kaoru couldn’t really think of anything else to say, so she settled for picking up a brownie.

Kenshin took the other brownie and remarked, “Wow... this is amazingly good. Surprising for a mall coffee bar. I wonder what they’ve got in here.”

“Dutch cocoa powder, white chocolate, melted semi-sweet chocolate, and.. um... oh, I don’t remember, but I can look it up.”

“Look it up?” Kenshin asked, curious.

“Um... they did a fundraising cookbook a couple of years ago; a bunch of local restaurants got together and contributed recipes for popular dishes. They submitted their famous brownie recipe. Although I haven’t ever been able to get it to turn out right. Exactly. Um. At all.”

“Oh, I’m sure it can’t have been...” Kenshin started, only to be silenced by Kaoru’s morose glare.

“Let’s just say that everybody agreed that I gave the term “death by chocolate” an entirely new meaning, ok?”

He threw back his head and laughed out loud, and Kaoru found her lips twitching as she tried to stifle a giggle.

“You think you can do better?” she challenged, “I can lend you the recipe.”

“That sounds great. Just bring it over and I promise to share the spoils with you once I’m done baking, ok?”

“Deal!” Kaoru said cheerfully, absent-mindedly licking a stray bit of chocolate from her finger. Losing coffee to the napkins was one thing, but there was no way she was wasting chocolate. “When?”

“Uh...” Kenshin seemed distracted for a moment before he said, “I’ll be home anytime tonight; just knock on the door.”

“Ok!” Kaoru replied, grinning. There were some things that she might feel very uncertain about, but the prospect of fresh triple-chocolate brownies was not one of them. Searching for something else that they could talk about, she finally settled on, “How is work going? I mean, I know that it’s only a couple of days until…. err….”

_‘Darn it... ok, NOT a good topic, end of the world, not cheerful conversational material; Jane Austen was right; stick to the weather and people’s health...’_

Fortunately, after a momentary pause, Kenshin said, “Thank you; yes. It’s been very busy, but we’re making progress, and I expect we’ll be more than ready by Saturday.”

“I’m glad!” Kaoru said, genuinely happy. 

Kenshin grimaced slightly, “I’m still not thrilled that…well. Please be careful.”

“I know; I will. We all will.” On impulse, she reached out and took his hand. “Really. None of us- even Sano- are going to go charging in.”

He put his other hand on top of hers, and they sat in silence for several seconds.

“How was...”

“How has...”

They both started at the same time, then laughed.

“Go ahead; I asked the last one,” Kaoru said.

“I was just wondering how school was going; they’re going to start presenting those projects soon, right?”

“Yes; the first groups are scheduled before Thanksgiving Break, and then they finish up between then and Winter Break,” Kaoru replied. “Yahiko is in one of the later groups; he and Yutaro seem to be taking that to mean that they have to be better than anybody else.”

“I’m not surprised,” Kenshin remarked with a smile.

As they finished their coffee, they talked some more about Yahiko’s project, and some of the things that other students were going to be presenting. Kenshin even managed not to make any injudicious remarks when Kaoru talked about the group that was doing something involving cooking as a set of chemical reactions, although there was a twinkle in his eye that made her shoot him a glare.

Once she had finished, Kaoru stood up, saying, “Thank you, Kenshin; that was... nice. Anyway, I had better get back to shopping. I have other things that I need to take care of this afternoon. I’ll bring that cookbook by later on, ok?”

Kenshin grinned at her as he also stood up. “I’ll be looking forward to it!”

It wasn’t until she was several stores away that Kaoru realized that actually spending time with Kenshin had done wonders to make her forget how nervous she was about the prospect of _spending time_ with Kenshin. 

_‘Huh...’_ she thought, with some amusement. _‘Imagine that....’_ Smiling to herself, she looked around to make sure that Kenshin wasn’t anywhere in the vicinity as she went into the next store. 

After all, there were some purchases that were supposed to be surprises.

* * *

Sunny Pines was, according to the brochures, an upscale retirement community for the discerning senior citizen, with a full range of activities and a focus on personalized care.

That was not exactly how Kaoru and Yahiko’s grandfather tended to describe it.

Kaoru had doubled back to pick up more brownies; Misao had brought something in a discrete bottle that Kaoru was pretty sure was her family’s well-guarded secret homebrew recipe, and Megumi had brought an elegant bouquet of flowers and a slightly superior expression.

She’d also brought a very encouraging medical update about Kaoru and Yahiko’s father, whose condition was improving slightly faster than the doctors had expected.

The flowers turned out to be a bribe- well, Megumi didn’t say that they were a bribe, but giving a bouquet to the nurses in order to make sure that nobody would disturb them while they were visiting Kaoru’s grandfather sure sounded like a bribe to her.

“Okay,” Misao said quietly as they walked down the hallway, “how do we want to handle this? I mean, we can’t just walk in and announce that there are supernatural shenanigans afoot, and we need his help with some charms, can we?”

Megumi frowned. “You’ve got a point. What do you think, Kaoru?”

Kaoru sighed and rolled her eyes at both of them as she knocked on the door to her grandfather’s studio apartment.

“Kaoru! Good of you to come visit an old man! And your charming friends! To what do I owe the pleasure?”

“Hey, grandpa,” she said, “There are supernatural shenanigans afoot, and we really need your help with some charms.

As her friends looked at her, scandalized, she shrugged. “Hey, he gave me all the charms to hide Kenshin’s sword, remember?”

* * *

Kaoru and Yahiko’s grandfather turned out to be a very entertaining conversationalist, bustling about to make them all a pot of tea. He was slightly emotional when Megumi gave him the update about his son, but quickly switched to reminiscing about some slightly embarrassing stories from when Kaoru and Yahiko were younger. Finally, once they were all seated around the table, he turned a sharp eye towards Kaoru and said, “So, young lady, you’ve gotten mixed up with the other world again, have you? I hope that you didn’t burn any buildings down this time!”

“Once! That happened once! One building! …. And a separate gymnasium. But that’s not important right now.”

Megumi, whose upbringing had included actual instruction in tea and conversation, interjected smoothly, “We need charms to… well, to deal with spirits.”

“Hmmm… what kind of spirits would these be?” the old man asked “Are you finally going to destroy the monster whose sword you stole?”

“Oh, no, they’re totally dating now,” Misao chimed in.

Kaoru choked on her tea. “Mi-sa-o!,” she hissed, “You can’t just… um…” Turning to face her shocked grandfather, she said, “Um…it’s not like… I mean, it turns out that he’s not actually a monster? And he’s trying to fight the real monsters? And, um, he thought that the fact that I defeated him was… impressive.”

To her great relief, her grandfather burst out laughing. “Of course he did! Men like a girl with spirit! You should have seen me, when I met your grandmother- hit me over the head with a broom, because she thought I was breaking into their family shop. That’s when I knew that I was going to marry that girl.”

He sighed and took another sip of his tea, momentarily lost in his memories. When he put the cup down on the table, he looked at all three of the girls with a determined expression.

“Now, I won’t ask you for details you can’t share, but there are some things that I will need to know in order to give you charms that you can actually use. If you can’t answer, then you’ll need to say that- no half-truths here.”

They nodded.

“First question: Are the spirits you are going to be facing human, or do you mean demons?”

Megumi looked thoughtful. “Mostly demons, although some of them used to be human. I mean… they didn’t have good lives, when they were human, and now…..”

“If they ended up as demons, or even if they ended up in the company of demons, I’m sure they didn’t.” Kaoru’s grandfather pursed his lips in contemplation. “What about protective charms for yourselves?”

“Yes,” Kaoru said. “That’s definitely a good idea.”

He grinned. “Of course it’s a good idea! Honestly, if you’d turned those down, I don’t think I could have given you anything else.”

Having gotten that out of the way, they got down to business. Megumi, whose family still produced the occasional Shinto priest or shrine maiden, had some very specific requests, and Misao and Kaoru concurred. In addition to the protective charms, he gave them everything else that they asked for, including an entire bag of something that he claimed was very special, very holy incense that they could use to mark off a perimeter.

As they left, Misao said, “Does anybody else think that this ‘special incense’ looks an awful lot like a giant bag of….’

“Misao, my grandfather did _not_ just give us a bag of… of…”

“Weed? Mary Jane? Reefer? Wacky tabaccy?”

“It is not!”

“I can’t believe you actually said “wacky tabaccy” in public, in the twenty-first century,” Megumi muttered.

“I mean, I’m sure if we set this on fire, it would have an effect on the bad guys!” Misao chortled, waggling her eyebrows.

“Misao!”

She pretended to look thoughtful. “I mean, what _do_ demons do when they get the munchies?”

“ _MISAO!!!!!”_

* * *

Kenshin was humming to himself as he unloaded the groceries. While it was true that he hadn’t seen the recipe for the brownies yet, he had a pretty good guess about what the main ingredients were, and confidence that his kitchen was well-stocked enough to handle just about anything else. 

_‘Nice and easy, Himura,_ ’ he thought to himself, _‘She might not want to stay and watch you bake; she might just throw the cookbook at you and then leave.’_

He felt Kaoru’s presence outside a second before she knocked on the door, and gave the kitchen a last once-over before he headed out to answer it. 

Kaoru was standing out in the hallway, clutching a brightly-colored cookbook. She had changed into casual clothes, an oversized sweatshirt and faded jeans that indicated she had clearly settled in to relax for the evening. 

“I brought the cookbook,” she said, holding it out to him.

“Thank you! Would you like to come in? I was thinking of trying the recipe tonight, and I wanted to double-check and see if I had all the ingredients.”

“Oh... ok,” Kaoru said.

As Kenshin ushered her in, Kaoru could feel the warmth of his arm behind her, close enough so that she could almost feel his touch.

“Feel free to take off your...um...” Kenshin blinked as he realized that Kaoru was wearing those ridiculously fluffy slippers again. “Or not.”

“What? Oh, oops; I forgot.” Kaoru said, flushing slightly. “I was thinking about something else and almost forgot to bring the cookbook over, so when I remembered, I just kind of, um, dashed. Well, not really dashed, because it was right next door, but, um, didn’t stop to check my footwear at the door.”

“They are very cute, kitten,” Kenshin assured her as he opened the cookbook and flipped through the pages to find the brownie recipe. “Now, let’s see.... have that... have that... yup... yup... yup... Well, it looks like I’ve got everything; up for sticking around to see if I can do this?”

“Sure! I mean, um, if you don’t have anything else to do...” Kaoru trailed off. “I mean, work, or something like that, since it’s dark out, and you usually have to take care of things at night. Unless you’re going out later, I suppose.”

“No, I don’t have anything planned, work-wise. The moon’s all wrong for anything really serious to happen tonight, and if something happens anyway, I’ll be informed.”

He put his arm behind her again to guide her into the kitchen, and once again the almost-contact made her skin tingle. Once they were in the kitchen, Kenshin put the cookbook down on the counter and began bustling around, gathering ingredients and getting out bowls and utensils.

Kaoru watched the way that he moved, the precise grace of it, until she realized that she was staring again. Luckily, Kenshin was too busy cracking eggs into one of the bowls to notice. At least she hoped he was too busy.

“Is there anything that I can do to help?” she asked, not wanting to simply stand there. 

“Hmm...” Kenshin said. “Well, you can mix the different chips and the nuts together so that they’re ready to go into the batter. Here, just dump everything into this bowl and then stir it.”

Kaoru did exactly that, trying not to get too distracted by Kenshin’s hands as he mixed the actual batter. It wasn’t a particularly successful effort on her part, but at least she tried.

Once he was done, he asked her to pour the chips into the batter, and then mixed everything some more. 

“There! All done!” Kenshin declared.

“Really?” Kaoru asked, surprised. “Don’t you have to... I mean, shouldn’t you mix it more than that?”

“No, you have to be careful not to over-mix it, kitten. Otherwise, the texture will be completely wrong.”

“Over-mix?” Kaoru said blankly.

‘Over-mix,” Kenshin affirmed, trying not to laugh at her expression of utter bemusement as he said it. “Here, try some; you’ll see.”

Grabbing a spoon, he dipped it into the batter and held it out to her. Instead of taking the spoon, which he’d expected her to do, Kaoru looked up at him, raised one eyebrow, and then leaned forward to lick the batter off of the spoon. 

“Mmmmm...” she said. Kenshin stood, frozen in place, unable to say anything as Kaoru caught a last drop of batter left on her lips with the tip of her tongue as she leaned back.

There was a moment when they just stared at each other, then Kaoru tilted her head and asked, “Kenshin? Now what?”

“Ah... now we pour the batter into the pan,” he managed, “Would you like to do that?”

“Oh, fine, just give me the jobs you know I won’t screw up... I mean, not that you should give me jobs that you think I’m going to screw up... I mean, um, where’s the pan, and don’t you need to grease it first or something?”

“It’s here, it’s a non-stick pan, and I promise that next time I’ll let you do more of the recipe. OK?”

She grinned and said, “Deal!”

Once the brownies were in the oven, Kenshin washed the dishes and Kaoru once again found herself watching him.

_‘Snap out of it, Kamiya!’_ she told herself brusquely. _‘I mean, just because you’ve decided that you’re going to… to… indicate that you would possibly…. probably…… definitely_ ….. _ideally before Saturday… that you want to… well, it doesn’t mean that you have to gawk at him.’_

“They should be ready in about a half-hour,” Kenshin said, looking at the clock once he’d finished with the clean-up. “The news is about to come on; would you like to watch it, and then we can see how the brownies turned out? I’ll make us some coffee.”

She nodded. “Sure; that would work.”

Sitting next to Kenshin on the couch, it was hard to repress the urge to curl up against him, letting his warmth and that scent of ginger that always clung to him surround her and running her hands through his hair. Kaoru scowled at herself. She had decided that things were going to proceed according to the rules, and that’s how things were going to go. 

Kenshin was only half paying attention to the news, which was about thirty-percent less attention than he usually gave it. Kaoru was so close, and it would take so little effort to just reach out and...

_‘And then either the phone would ring, or we would be interrupted by the kitchen catching fire. Possibly both. This is not the best time.’_

The buzzer going off in the kitchen distracted him from a thoroughly uninspiring weather report, and Kenshin smoothly got up off the couch, saying, “Just stay there, kitten; I’ll bring the brownies out once they’re cut.”

“Mmm?” Kaoru said, blinking at him. “Oh... ok.” She seemed to be paying more attention to the news and weather than he would have expected, but, remembering that one of the student groups was working on some kind of meteorological project, he supposed it had something to do with work.

She was still staring at the TV, her brow creased in thought, when he brought the plate with the brownies back in. It took the faint clink of the plate as he put it down to make her blink and turn to face him.

“Brownie?” Kenshin said.

“Oh... right. Yes, thanks.” She took a brownie and bit into it, then said, “Hey! Hey, you did it! These are great!”

“Thank you! You helped too, you know.” Kenshin replied, chuckling. “Couldn’t have done it otherwise. I’ll pack half of the batch up and you can take them home, ok?”

“I’m not sure it’s such a good idea for me to have that much chocolate in the apartment at once,” Kaoru admitted. “But... they _are_ really good, so... ok!”

As Kenshin got up to take the coffee mugs into the kitchen, once they were done, Kaoru asked, “Um... Kenshin? I just wondered.. um.. well... this afternoon, with the coffee shop and the brownies and the talking... I mean... um.. was that, well, a date? Because I was thinking that it maybe was kind of datelike, and so I thought I’d get your opinion about it. Um.”

He laughed. “Well, I certainly intended it to be a date, kitten. Granted, it wasn’t a typical date, but since none of ours have been typical so far, I don’t really worry about it.”

“None of... how many... um.,. never mind. So today was a date, then?”

“Yes, it was a date. Although I think we clearly need to go out on more of them if you’re having trouble recognizing them. We can talk about it once I’ve got the coffee mugs rinsed out.”

“Mmmm...” Kaoru said again, and he had the feeling that she was once again thinking about something else. 

_‘I hope that she’s not upset about something.... Was there anything in the news that might have upset her?’_

Kenshin frowned as he packed the brownies. Kaoru had enough stress in her life at the moment; he wanted to alleviate it in any way that he could, but the problem, as always, was getting her to talk about it. Short of holding the brownies hostage, he wasn’t really sure what he could do to get her to open up to him and let him share some of her burdens.

He heard Kaoru get up and start heading towards the kitchen, and turned to see her walk through the doorway. Her expression managed to be nervous and considering at the same time, and he had no idea what she was thinking.

“Kaoru? I put the brownies in a plastic container for you; you can just bring it back when you’re done.”

“Thank you,” she said. “Um... Kenshin? I was thinking... I mean, it seems like... um... well, I mean, well, with Saturday coming up, and we don’t know, I mean, not for sure, and… well, I mean, it’s not just because of Saturday, because I would definitely still want….. errr…. Kaoru trailed off and bit her lip.

Completely baffled, Kenshin blinked. “Kaoru, I’m not really sure what you...” he started... only to find his sentence abruptly cut off as Kaoru kissed him, wrapping her arms around his neck to pull him down slightly and pressing her lips against his in a very determined way.

_‘What... Kaoru... what...’_ Kenshin thought, too surprised to respond to her actions. 

Before he could get past his shock, Kaoru had stepped back, her arms dropping to her side as her face turned red. 

“I.. I’m sorry; I didn’t... um... I mean...” she stammered, her voice quavering slightly, “I mean, I thought... I know we haven’t talked about it, but it just seemed like it was time that we...”

_‘I can’t believe I did that; Idiot, what was I thinking, I can’t believe that just happened, and...’_

She hadn’t even taken two steps before she let out a squeak as she almost ran into Kenshin, who had once again somehow managed to get in front of her. His eyes were glittering gold, and there was something in his expression, in the way one corner of his mouth was turned up in satisfaction, that had her heart kicking in her chest.

“K-Ken... shin?” Kaoru said, nervously.

“Yes, kitten?” he said, his tone practically a purr. He took a step forward that had her automatically stepping backwards.

“Um.. what...” she started, then squeaked again as she felt the warmth of Kenshin’s arms around her. He leaned in to kiss her, brushing his lips against hers, a lingering slide that sent lazy warmth spiraling through her. When she was finally relaxing into him, he pulled back slowly, nibbling slightly on her bottom lip. One hand came up to trace along her jawline, and he watched as her blue eyes slowly fluttered open again, her expression slightly dazed.

“I apologize for not doing that before,” Kenshin said, still in that low tone that sent shivers down her spine, “but I was a little surprised. Don’t worry,” he continued, leaning in to brush his lips against her ear and tug slightly at her earlobe with his teeth, “I have every intention of making it up to you.”

“Oh...” Kaoru managed. “Are you sure, because I know that this is kind of sudden, and mmph!”

This time, his kiss was more heated, demanding that she respond to it in kind. She wrapped her arms around his neck again automatically as her knees went weak, tangling her fingers in his hair. Kenshin pulled her even closer, molding her body against him, feeling the fire that raced through him with the contact. His thoughts were both hungry and triumphant, full of the knowledge that Kaoru had made the first move, had kissed him with clear intentions.

It was all the permission that he needed, the sign that he no longer had to hold back. 

_‘Mine....’_ he thought to himself as he kissed her throat, relishing the way it made her moan when he hit a particularly sensitive spot. Needing to touch her skin, he slid one hand under her shirt, splaying his fingers against her side to feel its smoothness, the warmth of it under his touch. 

It still wasn’t enough. Kaoru looked up at him as he pulled back.

“Kenshin?” she asked, her voice breathless.

His eyes were glittering amber as he looked at her, and said huskily, “This is a lovely shirt, Kaoru, but it has to go.” She looked startled, but as he began pulling it up over her head, she moved her arms to help him. Tossing the shirt carelessly into a corner, he looked down at her, mouth curving into a satisfied smile.

“I didn’t plan to wear this...” Kaoru said, hesitant and clearly fighting instincts to duck behind her hair. “I mean, it’s not even very pretty, and it seemed important to be wearing something that was, I don’t know, with lace, or...”

Kenshin silenced her with a finger over her lips, then leaned in to kiss her again. “You are beautiful, no matter what you’re wearing,” he murmured against her mouth. Then he was kissing her again as his hands explored her skin, leaving trails of fire behind as they traced her curves. She whimpered in the back of her throat at the feel of it. As Kenshin dropped another line of light kisses along her jaw, Kaoru ran one hand across his shoulder to the buttons of his shirt and began undoing them, wanting to feel him.

He leaned back slightly and looked at her, then brought her hand up to his lips and kissed it, nibbling gently on her fingertips as he said, “I promise that I won’t rush, Kaoru. You don’t have to be nervous.”

“I’m not n-nervous!” Kaoru said, the way his thumb was moving in circles on her palm sending echos all the way down to the base of her spine. “I mean, just because I’ve never done this doesn’t mean I don’t know what h-happens; I took health class and... ooh!”

Her breath caught, and whatever she was going to say was lost with the feel of one finger trailing slowly down her spine, lightly, the calluses catching just enough to make her achingly aware of his movements. She didn’t even realize that he had undone her bra clasp until it fell forward so that she could feel the cooler air on her chest.

Rather than remove it right away, Kenshin leaned forward and whispered, “Ah, you misunderstand; I’m not going to rush because I want to take my time. I want to memorize every spot that makes you moan...” the feel of his hand around her breast made Kaoru do just that, biting her lip to try to keep the sound from escaping even as she involuntarily arched into his touch, “...every expression as I touch you, exactly how it sounds when you scream my name... oh, yes; I am definitely not going to rush...”

“Kenshin...” Kaoru managed faintly, not entirely sure what she wanted to say. She moved her arms without even thinking about it as he removed her bra entirely and tossed it into the same corner as her shirt. He kissed her again in response, and she eagerly responded, exploring his mouth and trying to memorize how he tasted as she continued to work at his shirt buttons, pushing the fabric out of the way so that she could feel the texture of his skin beneath her fingers. Kenshin reveled in the feel of her, the way her shyness was falling away as she gained confidence to touch him.

One of his hands trailed gently along her jawline, then down her throat, to where her heart beat rapidly in her chest. Then he moved it back up to as he pulled back to look at her, drinking in the way her dark hair tumbled over pale skin.

“Oh, yes...” Kenshin murmured again, his eyes flickering with amber heat. Any embarrassment Kaoru might have felt fled in the face of that possessive, hungry look. He pulled her forward between one breath and the next, and Kaoru gasped in startlement at the feel of his skin directly against hers. He was so warm, and she could feel his heartbeat keeping time with hers. One of his hands was against the small of her back, holding her to him, and the other was running through her hair, moving up to tilt her head so that her mouth was at the perfect angle for another devastating kiss that had her whimpering.

The feel of Kaoru’s bare skin against his was making it difficult for Kenshin to think, sending fire through him. He wanted to look at her, to see his desire reflecting in her eyes. He wanted to taste her skin, to feel the fine tremors that ran through her at the touch of his hands. He wanted to be pressed so closely against her that it was impossible to tell where one of them ended and the other began. 

He wanted everything of her, and he wanted to give everything of himself in return.

Kaoru gave a slightly surprised squeak as Kenshin suddenly picked her up, automatically wrapping her legs around him for balance. He stopped kissing her long enough to say, somewhat breathlessly, “I think that the bedroom is a much more appropriate place for this.”

Then he was somehow managing to kiss her again while carrying her through the apartment, never faltering at either task. With her legs wrapped around him, Kaoru found herself pressing up against Kenshin’s arousal, the feel of him making her gasp as lightning sang through her veins. Her hands tightened where they were wrapped around him, clutching at his back hard enough that her nails left half-moon marks. 

He might have smiled against her mouth at that, but she wasn’t sure. When they reached the bedroom, Kenshin somehow managed to pull the covers on the bed back without dropping her, then set her down and pulled his own shirt the rest of the way off, continuing to kiss her. As he carefully settled his weight over her, he ran one hand along her side, caressing up to her breast, then back down to her waist.

Pulling back slightly, nibbling on her bottom lip as he released it, Kenshin huskily said, “Kaoru....” before he kissed a path up her throat again while his hands made short work of the button and zipper of her jeans.

“I need to see you,” he murmured low against her skin. “You, in the moonlight... the way you look at me...”

“How do I...?” Kaoru began, uncertain of what he meant, but she was brought up short by Kenshin leaning back and tugging at her jeans to pull them down. She felt herself blushing, but her nervousness dissolved into a fluttering warmth as Kenshin bent to kiss her stomach. She moaned and arched as his tongue found her navel, then looked at him with wide eyes as he raised his head to give her another wicked grin.

“What... that was.... ahh!” Kaoru made another noise in the back of her throat, eyes closing, as he nipped lightly at her skin then soothed it with his lips and tongue.

“Mmmmm... very nice... very, _very_ nice...” Kenshin purred, before he finished removing her jeans and tossing them carelessly across the room. His fingers traced patterns across her legs, starting at her ankles and running up to the waistband of her underwear. The touch of his hands set sparks off under her skin, the slight drag from the callouses on his fingertips making her shiver. She couldn’t think past it, couldn’t do anything except feel the way heat was pooling low in her stomach, her shyness lost under flickers of anticipation as Kenshin carefully removed her last piece of clothing.

She wasn’t sure what she was expecting him to do next, but she blinked wide eyes at him when he leaned back and got off of the bed, standing next to it and looking down at her, his eyes shaded by his bangs.

“Kenshin?” Kaoru said, hesitant, her shyness returning now that his hands weren’t touching her.

It took him a moment to respond, but the eyes that he raised to meet hers were burning amber, the raw emotions in them causing the breath to catch in her throat: Hunger, and possessiveness, and a kind of wonder at her presence, his gaze almost something she could feel against her skin.

The sight of Kaoru, naked on his bed, dark hair fanning out around skin glowing pale in the shafts of moonlight coming in through his window, made Kenshin’s heart kick in his chest. He wanted to memorize every shadow, every curve; he knew that he could stand there for hours, just staring at her, the fulfillment of so many nights and days of yearning, of _needing_...

Then again, he thought, his expression taking on a wicked cast, he would hardly be a good host if he just spent hours staring at her.

He moved back with an easy, predatory grace, still drinking in the sight of her. Reaching out his hand, he trailed his fingers lightly down her feet and then up along her legs and the curve of her waist, where he once again spread his fingers against her skin as he joined her on the bed again.

‘Kenshin...” Kaoru said, swallowing. She didn’t know what else to say to him; couldn’t have managed to get any words past the pounding of her heart even she had known.

“Mmmm?” Kenshin asked, his voice still in that low, purring tone that sent shivers down her spine. As he lay next to her, he kept trailing his long fingers along her skin, from her navel up over her sternum, tracing the hollow of her throat and her collarbone. She bit her lip on a gasp, and tangled her fingers in the length of his hair. Leaning in, Kenshin nuzzled against the juncture of her neck and shoulder, and she could feel the delicate pressure from his fangs against her skin as he nibbled lightly. “Was there something you wanted?”

He leaned back slightly to look at her, and she looked at him, her eyes wide and dark, full of need he didn’t think she was even aware of showing. Keeping his own gaze on her face, he repeated, “What do you want, Kaoru?”

“I...” As she opened her mouth to answer him, he ran one hand down to cup her breast, his fingers curving against her skin as her neck arched slightly while her eyes shut at his touch. The way that she inhaled in response brought her even more firmly against his hand, and he caressed her lingeringly. She was panting slightly as she managed to open her eyes again just in time to see him smile in wicked anticipation of her response before brushing his thumb against her nipple. The electric shock of it zinged through her, and she moaned helplessly, writhing under his touch as his other hand moved to complement the first.

“Oh, _very_ nice,” Kenshin murmured approvingly, trailing lazy patterns along her skin, down to circle her navel before running back up. The noises she made in response to that simple touch had him raising an eyebrow as he looked at her, and she met his gaze as he paused.

“Your hands aren’t _fair_...” Kaoru gasped, then gave another of those breathy moans as he did it again.

She could practically feel his wicked grin against the column of her throat as he moved up to her ear to breathe, “Is that so?” punctuating the question with a slow pull at her earlobe that ended with another delicate nip. Kaoru made a noise that was both affirmative and longing as she turned to kiss along his jaw, wrapping her arms around his shoulders as she eagerly pressed her mouth to his. He returned the kiss hungrily, pulling her up against him, his hands still moving along her skin. Her own hands were roaming his back, tracing the lines of his muscles, the way they moved under his skin.

Pulling back slightly to let her breath, Kenshin ran his hands along her skin again, exploring her curves, and threading through her long hair. Kaoru took advantage of the distance between them to kiss his throat, flicking her tongue out lightly as she sought to learn the taste of his skin. From the way he hissed slightly in response, it seemed like she’d found a good spot. Moving down to his shoulder, she traced his collarbone with her tongue, then worked her way back to the hollow at the base of his throat with a series of nibbling kisses, reveling in the way his hands clenched and relaxed and the gasp that escaped his throat. His response sent a thrill through her, and she couldn’t help the delighted grin that spread across her face.

Feeling the curve of her lips against his skin, Kenshin growled and pulled back slightly to her side, one leg moving to lay across hers. 

“I’m glad that you’re enjoying yourself, kitten,” he said, one hand tracing patterns across her shoulders, her breasts, down along her ribs and abdomen as he talked. “Very, _very_ glad,” Kenshin breathed, leaning in to nibble her earlobe. Kaoru whimpered at the feel of it combined with the way his fingers were moving. The way he was touching her was setting off sparks under her skin and she was finding it hard to breathe past the aching anticipation building with every movement he made. Kenshin’s fingers lazily circled her navel as he kissed along her shoulder, watching her with amber eyes, his expression covetous, anticipatory in a way she didn’t quite understand.

“You...” Kaoru started, panting slightly, but her words scattered as his hand moved downwards, his fingers suddenly touching her in a way that sent white-hot electricity zinging straight up her spine, her back arching as she let out a sobbing moan. 

“Oh, _yes..._ ” Kenshin murmured against her skin, continuing what he was doing. “Let me hear you....”

Kaoru wasn’t really registering his words, couldn’t focus on anything except his touch, everything centered around those sensations. 

It was intoxicating to know that he was the one responsible for her reactions. 

Never stopping what he was doing, Kenshin leaned down and kissed along the curve of her breast, flicking out his tongue to taste her skin. When his mouth closed around her, sucking gently, Kaoru felt as if she might fly apart. The noises that fell from her throat were part gasp and part plea, mixed with the broken, panted syllables of his name, rising in pitch and volume as he drove her higher. Kenshin watched her face, gauging her reaction and reveling in the sight of her, the fact that it was his touch causing her to toss her head back and forth, biting her lip between the noises she was making, that he was the reason she was clutching at his shoulders hard enough for her nails to be leaving marks.

Kaoru could feel something building within her, something that made her start to tremble as Kenshin touched her, that made everything center around the motions of his hands, the feel of his lips and tongue against her skin. She whimpered helplessly at the feelings coursing through her, the dizzying heights Kenshin was driving her towards.

Then suddenly her eyes went wide and she gasped, just before she tumbled, helpless, feeling herself shatter into incandescent sparks, crying out Kenshin’s name.

When she could think again, she looked up at Kenshin with wide, dazed blue eyes. “That...” Kaoru started, “I mean.... you... ohhhh.” Giving up on words, Kaoru managed to sit up enough to kiss him, before she said, “Wow.”

“We’ve only just gotten started,” Kenshin replied, his voice husky. His expression was hot and possessive as he leaned in to claim her lips again, his tongue teasing hers. She kissed him back hungrily, exploring his mouth, trying to convey to him how he made her feel. Her hands were eagerly running over his skin, trying at the same time to pull him close so that she could press up against him. She reveled in the warmth of his back, the feel of the muscles moving as he wrapped his arms around her. Wrapping one leg around his, she ran one foot along the back of his calf as she arched against him, making a satisfied noise in the back of her throat.

Kenshin made an answering noise, barely conscious he was doing it, caught up in the fire racing through his veins. She was so responsive to him, every action and reaction inflaming his own desires. He wanted to memorize every detail of her, and from the way she was wrapping herself around him, pressing herself against him as she tugged his earlobe with her teeth, it was clear that she felt the same. When he moved to disentangle them, she protested and looked up at him with slightly dazed eyes, confused.

“Kaoru,” Kenshin said, his voice full of humor and barely-leashed desire, “this is going to be much easier if you give me a chance to take these pants off.”

“Oh...right...” Kaoru said, blushing. _‘I can’t believe I forgot... I mean, I know that his pants need to... I mean, the nakedness is kind of important, and... and...’_

The sound of Kenshin’s zipper broke through Kaoru’s nervously circling thoughts, and she waged a brief internal battle about the boundary between appreciative and rude when it came to staring at naked men.

_‘Not that I’ve had much of a chance to test it, either way... pretty much just illustrations in textbooks and the occasional work of art and... oh. Oh, my.’_

The moonlight caught and defined every plane and hollow of Kenshin’s body, and Kaoru found herself transfixed by the sight. She swallowed, throat dry. Looking up and meeting his gaze, she saw both his desire for her and his knowledge that she wanted him. He gave her a brilliant, smugly possessive smile, then, before she could even open her mouth to frame a response, was back on the bed with her, his lean frame covering her completely as he kissed her, fierce and sweet. The contact between them seemed multiplied a hundredfold now that there was nothing impeding it. Kaoru’s head fell back and he took advantage of the opportunity to tangle one hand in her thick hair, holding her so that he could keep kissing her. 

“Kaoru,” he said, voice rough with desire, “are you sure?” He kissed her again, lightly, before he continued, “Because...”

Interrupting him by the simple expedient of wrapping her arms around him and pulling him down to kiss him thoroughly, Kaoru gave him her answer.

Something like a sigh escaped from him. “Good,” Kenshin murmured against the skin of her neck, “Because I’m very, _very_ sure....”

His hands were tracing patterns against her skin again as he kissed her. Kaoru could feel him pressing up against her, and she automatically shifted her hips to bring him closer to where that aching heat was building once again.

She knew what she wanted, but her thoughts were too scattered for her to ask him. Instead, she shifted underneath him, twining one leg around the back of his calf. 

Kenshin paused momentarily and pulled back enough to kiss the side of her mouth and murmur her name. With a movement of his hips, he positioned himself between her legs, and she gasped and squirmed at the feeling. He was so warm, so solid, that she couldn’t think past it.

Then, as he pressed his lips to hers again, he moved.

Kaoru’s eyes flew wide open and she gasped. “Ken... _ah.._ Ken..shin...” she managed. Everything was centered around his movement, the way that it somehow felt _right_. Kenshin paused momentarily, but before she could gather her thoughts to say anything, he moved again, one sudden motion of his hips that sent a momentary sharp pain through her. Almost before she could register it, he was kissing her, murmuring low in his throat, his hands running soothingly along her curves. As Kaoru relaxed underneath him, she let her own hands run over his skin, not really aware of what she was doing, just wanting contact with him. When she moved her hips, Kenshin let out a gasp, his hands suddenly clutching tightly. “Gods...” he managed, and then his lips were claiming hers again, hungrily. Pulling back slightly so that he could look at her, Kenshin ran one hand reverently along the curve of her cheek. “Do you know, Kaoru, how long... how long I’ve been _wanting_ this? Wanting _you_?”

“I...” she started, but before she could continue, Kenshin moved again, slowly and deliberately, watching her expression as her eyes widened and then fluttered shut as she whimpered. 

When she opened them again, Kenshin’s expression was once again wicked and burning and covetous. As he moved, she felt herself responding to his rhythm, helpless to do anything but match the pace he was setting, kissing every inch of his skin that she could reach. His hands held her waist, moving along her curves, sending fire racing along her veins. The press of his lips and the rasp of his tongue against her neck made her moan, a sound which turned into a whimpered gasp at the light prick of fangs against her skin.

Kenshin’s voice was low as he murmured against her skin; he didn’t even know exactly what he was saying to her. It didn’t matter; the possessive cadence of the words was what was important, the sentiment behind them. 

It was so easy to lose himself in the feel of her, surrendering to the fire burning through him. At the same time, he wanted to draw things out as long as he could, not allowing himself to lose control and go too quickly. He needed to hear Kaoru’s cries, to feel the way she moved against him and clutched at his back. One slim leg was wrapped around the back of his legs, pulling him closer, and he responded with a possessive growl and a movement of his hips that had her writhing and calling his name as she arched up off the bed.

“Ken... shin....” she begged, feeling as if his arms, his body, were the only things keeping her from flying to pieces. She could feel everything building between them, the fine tremors under his skin proving that he was as affected as she was.

The curve of his mouth against her frantic pulse was wicked. Then, moving up, Kenshin met her eyes for a moment before his mouth claimed hers, burning and possessive, his tongue tangling with hers, muffling her cries as he drove them both higher. Overwhelmed, swamped by sensation, Kaoru gasped and cried out his name as she suddenly succumbed to waves of ecstasy, her fingernails leaving marks on his back as she arched underneath him, feeling his answering cry vibrate through her as he fell with her.

When she could finally think past the warmth pooling in her veins like honey, it was to an awareness of solid arms around her, and a noise like a contented purr echoing in her ears as Kenshin held her, snuggling her and resting his head against her shoulders. She tried to think of something to say, but her brain didn’t seem to want to string two words together... instead, she let out a happy sigh, nuzzling against Kenshin’s hair before she let the warm, comfortable, ginger-scented darkness wrap around her and carry her off to a deep and dreamless sleep.

* * *

Kenshin could hear Kaoru’s heartbeat echoing through him as he slowly drifted towards wakefulness. Opening his eyes, he looked down at her, snuggled around him, her head pillowing on his chest as she slept.

_‘Mine... finally mine....’_ he thought, a warmly possessive glow spreading through her as he watched her breathe. Her dark hair fanned out across her back and Kenshin ran his hands through it, enjoying the heavy smoothness, the faint jasmine scent. Needing to touch her skin again, he ran his hands up and down her back, smiling as Kaoru made a sleepily content noise at his touch. From past experience, Kenshin knew that Kaoru would snuggle up to him while asleep, but this was the first time they’d been so intimately close. He was in no hurry to have her wake up, utterly happy at the feel of her skin against his, the way her legs were tangled with his own and her arms around him, relaxed and comfortable in sleep. 

The first sign that he had that Kaoru was waking up in the faint light of dawn was the purring noise she made in the back of her throat as she languorously stretched, one arm wrapping even more firmly around him. As Kenshin continued to run his hands up and down her back, she blinked sleepy blue eyes up at him and smiled, a faint blush dusting her cheeks. He couldn’t help it; he leaned in and dropped a kiss on her forehead before softly saying, “Good morning.” Adjusting his hold on her to tuck her more firmly under his chin, he continued, “Why don’t you shower while I fix breakfast, okay?”

“Mmmmmm.....” Kaoru said, still bonelessly relaxed against him. “...’kay.” It was a good idea.... except for the part where she would have to move. She really didn’t feel like moving. Kenshin chuckled, and she could feel the sound vibrating through her where she was curled up against him.

“Showering involves getting out of bed, you know,” he said helpfully, his tone full of contented humor. She looked up at him with what was supposed to be a glare, but any impact it might have had was defused by way everything about her posture continued to radiate drowsy, satiated happiness. Giving up, she made another indistinguishable noise in the back of her throat and settled back down against him with a sigh and a muffled “... be up in a minute....” At that, he laughed again, and leaned down to drop kisses along her hair.

If she was happy to stay where she was, naked and in his bed and curled up around him, who was he to argue with her?

Kenshin let his thoughts drift, his hands still tracing random patterns on her skin, breathing in her scent, enjoying the way her breath feathered across the skin of his chest, the novel feeling of happiness suffusing every part of him. He had no idea how long they lay like that before Kaoru sighed and moved to sit up. Kenshin stayed where he was, relaxing against the pillows, enjoying the sight of her and the way her black hair fell around her shoulders and chest. 

The fact that he wasn’t even bothering to hide the appreciation in his glance made Kaoru blush again, but she met his eyes squarely as she said, “I should go take that shower.... um... and I have to get to work. Should I just go back to...”

“Certainly not!” Kenshin interrupted, “I’ll take care of food, and I’ll get you something casual to throw on afterwards, so that you can go back to your apartment to change,” As he got out of bed and went over to his dresser, Kaoru found that she was also unable to stop staring at him, remembering how it had felt to map out his body with her hands and mouth. Something about his expression as he turned back towards her convinced her that he not only knew what she was thinking, but he was thinking along the same lines himself. 

It was going to be very difficult, she realized, to make it out of his apartment and off to work on time.

But, as they smiled at each other, and he handed her some clothes before heading out to his kitchen, she found it impossible to be too bothered by that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author’s note: … Well, we have reached the combustion point of the slow burn?


	44. Ready

“Himura, you moron,” Saitoh said as he shouldered his way into Kenshin’s apartment, not even bothering with a greeting.

Kenshin winced and shut the door, hoping that none of the neighbors were anywhere in hearing distance. Given that Saitoh had had to pound on the door for a full five minutes before Kenshin had bothered to open it, he wasn’t holding out too much hope.

“Good morning to you, too. Aren’t you supposed to be at your day job? In the school?”

Saitoh snorted. “It’s lunchtime. On the day before we have to save the world. You do remember that there’s a timeline here?”

“I assure you, I am completely prepared. And you know we’re all meeting Hiko later tonight, so why you feel that you have to…”

“You still haven’t talked to her,” Saitoh said, flatly. “Even though the two of you very obviously…” he made a vague gesture, looking discomfited and unsure how to go on.

Kenshin glared. The fact that Saitoh wasn’t comfortable knowing as much as he did about Kaoru and Kenshin’s relationship didn’t really mitigate the awkwardness of Saitoh having mentioned that he knew as much as he did.

“It’s not like I’m not bringing it up on purpose!” Kenshin finally said. “It’s…” He looked up at the ceiling and let out a deep breath. “How did you do it?” he finally asked. “With your wife.”

“It was a much easier choice,” Saitoh replied bluntly, after several moments of silence. “She didn’t have any close family to think about; they had died in the Bakumatsu, or shortly afterwards. And, of course, she was very aware of my responsibilities and what they were going to entail.”

“Mmmm,” Kenshin said. “But I’m betting that you didn’t bring it up right before you went off to fight Shishio.”

“Don’t be stupid; we’d been married for years by that point. But if we hadn’t been… I would have had the conversation that we needed to have before heading off to battle.”

Kenshin blinked.

Saitoh, his tone one of great forbearance, said carefully, “If you don’t say it, how do you know that one of _them_ won’t? What do you think they’ll say? What do you think will happen? You know the damage that half-truths can do; you’ve seen it.”

“Did you also yell at Aoshi, or am I the only one who is this lucky?”

“Shinomori and the weasel girl aren’t in the same situation that you two are.” Saitoh answered quickly, and a touch defensively.

“I am going to take that as you forgot that it might be an issue, and assume that you’d rather have me call him than have to deal with it yourself.”

The taller man made no reply, and Kenshin decided to move on to more topics of more immediate importance.

“Did Sano and Katsu get you everything that you needed?”

Grudgingly, Saitoh admitted, “Yes; they were… surprisingly efficient for an idiot rooster and his munitions-obsessed friend. Fortunately, Sano was able to persuade Katsu that he needs to be running the bar. I suppose I shouldn’t be shocked that they were so familiar with the phrase “plausible deniability.”

Kenshin made a noncommittal noise that managed not to sound too amused. “Was there anything else, or did you just come by on your lunch break to complain?”

“Yes. You can’t fight Soujiro.”

“What? What are you talking about?”

“Himura, you tried to redeem him once, and you know that didn’t work out. The boy made his choice,” Saitoh held up one hand in a placating fashion when Kenshin looked like he was going to interrupt. “I’m not saying it isn’t a tragedy; I’m not saying that I don’t agree with you that his life should have gone differently. But, as annoying as it is, you’re our best chance to take down Shishio, and getting tangled up with Soujiro in some idiotic attempt to pull him over to our side and send him off on some damn fool journey to find his inner peace or whatever nonsense you decide to spout is just going to get you injured before the more important fight. Let Shinomori and I deal with it.”

Kenshin looked momentarily mutinous, but finally sighed. “Fine. I understand what you’re saying.”

“And?”

“And I will not seek out Soujiro, because you and Shinomori should handle it.”

It was clear that Himura still wasn’t happy, but Saitoh decided not to press his luck by trying to extract any further promises. Besides which, they both knew that circumstances could change rapidly during a mission, and it wasn’t out of the realm of possibility that Soujiro would go looking for the other man.

Saitoh knew as well as anybody the problems that could happen if you were forced to break a direct promise. 

* * *

Even before Megumi’s update, Kaoru had decided that she and Yahiko needed to go visit their father in the hospital before… well, before Saturday. They were teaching at different dojos in the afternoon, but had agreed to meet up at the hospital once they were done.

“Do you think he looks better?” Yahiko stage-whispered to her after they’d entered the room.

“First of all, I don’t understand why you think you have to whisper. Second of all, that’s really loud for a whisper, and doesn’t that defeat the entire purpose?”

“HEY, UGLY, DOESN’T DAD LOOK BETT—ow.”

“Serves you right,” Kaoru muttered.

The doctor who had entered the room behind them cleared her throat delicately.

“Ah, um, sorry!” Kaoru said, wincing. “We, um, didn’t mean to…”

“I’ve seen worse strategies to try to get comatose patients to wake up,” the doctor remarked wryly. “I just came in to see if you had any questions. As Dr. Takani will have told you, he’s progressing very well; there hasn’t been any fluid build-up or other concerns. In fact, he’s… well, he’s still in a coma, but he’s in a lighter coma than he was originally, if that makes sense. I would expect him to wake up at some point soon- maybe not today, but soon.”

“Is there anything we should do?” Yahiko asked eagerly. “Can we wake him up faster or anything?”

“Usually, I just tell my patients’ families to talk to them. Some people read the newspaper; you’re welcome to do that. But, really, just talking to him is the best thing that you can do. Tell him what’s been going on, what you’ve been doing; that sort of thing.”

The two siblings exchanged a look of mutual agreement to not tell their father _everything_ that had been going on.

As the doctor was leaving the room, she said, “I’ll leave some brochures and information for you at the nurses’ station; it wouldn’t hurt to start thinking about physical therapy options, just so you’re ready. Not that your father won’t have his own opinions, of course; just so that you can start thinking about it, maybe narrow things down based on proximity to where you live.”

“Thank you!” Kaoru said as Yahiko sat down in the chair next to the bed, took their father’s hand, and started cheerfully telling him all about the presentation that he and Yutaro were doing.

‘ _Swords are a good topic,’_ she thought. ‘ _Dad was already interested in what the boys were doing for school, so he’d definitely want to hear how it was going.’_

After Yahiko had finished talking about school, and his project, and every conceivable detail about how his kendo classes had been going- Kaoru hadn’t heard all of that either, and was glad to get the chance to eavesdrop a little- Kaoru sat down and took their father’s hand. The physical contact was automatic, something that created a connection she hoped would reach their father, even when he was unconscious.

“Umm… so, classes have been good,” she started. “I mean, science and kendo, both going great, even Yahiko is behaving himself.”

“Oi!”

She ignored him. “And, umm, everybody is getting ready for the December tournaments, which should be good, although I think we may have fewer upper-division folks than we expected. Not anything to worry about- just, um, the Shima kids are going to visit their grandparents. Big wedding anniversary surprise party. Very expensive. They’ve spent the last three classes talking about caviar and trying to figure out if the luxury food part outweighs the fish eggs part.”

Yahiko, looking faintly green, grimaced and said, “It definitely does not.”

“How would you know?”

“Yutaro and I raided the catering trays at one of his dad’s fancy corporate shindigs once. Trust me; nothing outweighs the fish eggs part.”

“Ah. Well, um, I am also dating Kenshin. Which I … kind of mentioned, but we’re, um, still dating. Dating more.” She could feel herself blushing, but soldiered on and said, “When you’re out of the hospital, you’ll have to come over for dinner, and you can interrogate him properly and all that. Okay?”

She squeezed her dad’s hand, and almost fell out of her chair when she felt the faintest of squeezes in response. Gasping, she looked at Yahiko with wide eyes.

“Did you see that?” she demanded. “He... his hand… he…. Yahiko, I think that…”

“Dad?” Yahiko called out, “Can… can you hear us?” He went around to the other side of the bed and took his other hand, trying not to squeeze too hard. “We’re here; you need to wake up.”

There was a moment of tense anticipation, with both of them squeezing their father’s hands and holding their breath.

Then, very faintly, he squeezed back- and both of them burst into tears.

“S…s…sorry, Dad!” Yahiko choked out. “It’s good! We’re happy!”

“V… very happy!” Kaoru continued, “Really! We know that the doctor said you maybe won’t wake up today, but the hand squeezes are a good sign and… and… we’ll definitely be back tomorrow.”

“Whether you wake up today or not!” Yahiko declared resolutely.

Neither of them promised that they would be back on Sunday. Neither of them mentioned their careful avoidance of Sunday.

Instead, the Kamiya siblings stayed with their father for the rest of the afternoon and into the evening, holding his hands and talking, sharing memories and stories and anything else they could think of until the nurses kindly reminded them that they had been there slightly past the allotted time.

“Do you want to get burgers?” Kaoru asked as they headed out the door.

“Burgers sound great!”

“Okay,” she said, “let’s head home.”

Giving his shoulders a quick squeeze before he could pull away, she headed out to where they had parked.

_‘It’s gonna be okay,’_ she thought to herself. ‘ _We’re gonna be okay.’_

* * *

Misao hummed happily to herself as she put the finishing touches on dinner. It wasn’t anything fancy, but she had decided that she and Aoshi should have dinner the night before… well. The night before the potential return of a demonic supervillain? The night before they were all going to band together to save the world?

‘ _The night before I spend a lot of time really wishing that I’d actually gotten that mail-order ninja training kit when I was twelve?’_ she thought to herself, only mostly sarcastically.

She heard Aoshi as he opened the door, and called out, “Hey, I almost have dinner ready, if you want to get some plates out.”

He stood in the doorway with a slightly perplexed expression.

“You’re here,” he finally said.

“Yes?”

“In my apartment.”

“Making us dinner, yes. Which will be easier if we have plates to eat off of, by the way.”

Aoshi raised an eyebrow, but went over to the cupboard and got out plates. Then he said, “The question, in case you missed it, is _how_ you ended up in my apartment making us dinner.”

She grinned. “I have a winning personality, and an array of relevant skills.”

“In breaking and entering?”

“Well, that too, but mostly in being able to talk with Hannya and get him to agree that ignoring me when I asked about us having dinner tonight was probably because you had some ridiculous notion of _propriety_ or something.”

Aoshi’s expression indicated that “ridiculous” was not usually an accusation that got tossed in his direction.

Misao sighed and looked at him. “I’m not asking to spend the night; I’m sure that you’ve got… I don’t know, patrolling or something to take care of. I just want to make sure that we have some time before tomorrow for dinner and, um, other motivational activities.”

“Motivational?”

“Well, you know, ‘yay, the world is a pretty great place, here are some reminders why we want it to stick around’ stuff.”

“And I’m guessing that you have some specific activities in mind?”

Her grin was sly, “Oh, I absolutely do. But, you know, I wanted to consult with you first. Wouldn’t want to be so motivational that you end up exhausted for tomorrow.”

“Oh, I’m sure that I can manage to avoid that.”

She had barely a second’s warning before he _moved_ and she found herself scooped up and borne out of the kitchen.

“ _Aoshi!”_ she gasped, “what… we’ve…. dinner!”

“Oh, I think it will keep,” he replied. “I think that we should spend some time going over the parameters of what counts as appropriately motivational. Wouldn’t want to get it wrong, after all. Might offend my sense of propriety.”

Misao grinned at him. “Well, when you put it like that, dinner can definitely wait.”

Unfortunately, before he had taken more than one or two more steps, the phone rang. He stopped, and carefully set Misao down.

“I’m sorry; I do have to get this. It shouldn’t take long. Just… wait here a minute?”

As he headed back to pick up the phone, Aoshi muttered under his breath, “… can see why Himura gets so annoyed about this….”

In spite of his annoyance, he managed to sound mostly sanguine when he picked up the phone.

“Shinomori here. What?”

He blinked. Whatever he’d been expecting the person on the other end of the line to say, it was clear that they had had an entirely different reason for calling.

“No, I hadn’t actually… I mean, it hasn’t ever come up before, and I … no, you’re right; I completely agree. She’s actually here, so it won’t be… I mean, it probably _will_ be that complicated, but at least it won’t be… yes, exactly.”

He sighed.

“Thank you for reminding me. If there’s nothing else? I’ll meet you when we agreed. Right. Goodbye.”

Aoshi put the phone down with the kind of exaggerated care that practically screamed he was trying hard not to slam it back into the cradle. A careful observer might also have noticed that he was muttering profanities under his breath before inhaling and turning back to where Misao was leaning against the wall, one eyebrow raised.

He looked at her and blinked. “I’m guessing that the, um, clothing removal happened before whatever part of that you overheard?”

“Mmmmm,” she agreed, raising an eyebrow. “Is this going to be the sort of conversation where I regret that?”

Aoshi exhaled carefully. “I don’t think so,” he said slowly. “It’s not actually anything… bad. Just… something that Himura and I realized we should mention to you and to Kaoru ahead of tomorrow. Not that you have to stay… I mean... you could put things back... er…. I was going to suggest that we sit down, and want to make sure that you’re comfortable?”

The fact that he was obviously discomfited had Misao fighting back giggles, even as she knew that they wouldn’t have fit the mood—either of the moods, really.

“Give me a second; I can figure something out.”

Off of his raised eyebrow she said, “Well, it looks to me like you’re still going to need some motivation once you get done with whatever it is you have to say, and I would hate to waste time.”

He managed not to blush, but it was a very near thing. 

* * *

After some discussion in the car, Yahiko and Kaoru had decided to spend the night at the dojo. As her brother had pointed out, they were going to need to be there anyway to figure out wapons and supplies, and if they were there already, they would save time.

Besides, the good burger place was closer to the dojo than to Kaoru’s apartment or Dr. Gensai’s house anyway.

Yahiko spent time after dinner on a complicated kata routine. Kaoru, who could recognize an attempt to ensure a good night’s sleep when she saw one, joined in once she realized he’d headed out to the training hall. They finished their exercise in companionable silence, and Yahiko said, “Well, I’m going to take a shower and get some sleep. Hey, do you think we could make pancakes tomorrow?”

“I think that _you_ could make pancakes tomorrow,” she replied. “I don’t think that _I_ am going to decide to make pancakes.”

“Sheesh, fine, it was worth a shot,” he muttered.

After Yahiko had gone to bed, Kaoru spent time… well, puttering, she supposed. She was still too keyed up to try to go to sleep just yet, and it wasn’t like there weren’t small tasks she could take care of in the house.

The knock startled her, but she managed not to yelp. Carefully picking up the shinai that the family always kept stashed near the entrance, she carefully opened the door.

“Kenshin?” she asked, surprised. 

He didn’t look panicked, she thought with relief, or as if anything bad had happened.

“May I come in?”

“Of course! Err… Yahiko is asleep; is there… I mean, I can go get him?”

“No; I just… I just wanted to talk with you about something, if that’s alright. We decided that it was important.”

Kaoru knew that she looked confused as she ushered him into the kitchen, but managed to keep her curiosity in check while she asked him the usual mundane visitor things- did he want any water (yes), would he prefer to stay in the kitchen or move into the living room (the kitchen was fine), and what the weather was like (a raised eyebrow and comment about how she had just been outside herself).

Finally, she sat down with her own glass and waited.

Kenshin blinked, then realized that she was waiting for him to get down to business.

“So….” he started out. “This is… well, I hope that it won’t be too awkward. And I don’t want to presume anything.”

“Are you more worried about being awkward or being presumptuous?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Both, really. This is not a conversation that I’ve had, before now.”

Taking a deep breath, he continued. “Kaoru… I love you.”

“I…”

Kenshin grimaced. “I meant to make more of a grand romantic gesture out of that. That… that was… I realize that that was a bit abrupt. But not, I hope, a complete surprise.”

She blushed.

“And,” he continued, holding up a hand, “I’m not expecting you to… well, to reciprocate. I mean, I hope that someday… I mean, I would very much like to be able to continue to build our relationship after tomorrow, and recognize that it probably sounds _both_ awkward and presumptuous to start making declarations about my feelings right before tomorrow’s battle.”

“I wouldn’t say that it’s presumptuous…” Kaoru said, then blushed even more.

Kenshin smiled. “I would very much like to talk about that in more detail, kitten… but possibly not right now.”

He looked out across the yard to the training hall, then back at Kaoru.

“You know, that wasn’t even the part that I was afraid was going to be awkward,” he remarked.

“So, this next bit is going to be worse?”

“Well, hopefully not. Kaoru…you know that I’m… well, that demons live for a very, very long time. You’ve heard me- all of us- talk about our pasts, and you know what that means.”

“Yes….” Kaoru said slowly, brow furrowing.

“Saitoh, of course, is married, and, um, has been married since the Bakumatsu.”

“Wow, that is… a lot of anniversaries.”

“Uh… yes, I supposed it is.”

“I mean,” Kaoru said, knowing that she was getting distracted to avoid thinking about the more serious part of the conversation, “you kind of run out of traditional gifts at some point in there; do you just… circle back around to start with paper again, or do you start tossing in rare elements, or…”

“To answer the question that you’re not asking, he didn’t actually marry a demon.”

Kaoru blinked. “Wait… do you mean… that she… that…..”

Kenshin exhaled. “She was human, when they met, and human when they fell in love, but… well. There are choices to be made, when a demon falls in love with a human, and she made hers before they were even engaged.”

“When you say, “choices,” what exactly do you mean?” she asked, slowly.

He reached across the table, taking her hand in his. “I’m not asking you to make a choice tonight, Kaoru; that wouldn’t be fair, on multiple levels. But… I love you; I want to be with you, and I hope that you will want to be with me, too. And, as part of that, we’ll have to decide whether you take my lifespan, or I take yours.”

Kaoru opened her mouth, closed it again, tried to say something a second time, and ended up just making a sort of inarticulate squeaking noise.

“We don’t have to discuss the details tonight,” Kenshin reiterated. “This will be a conversation- possibly many conversations- for later. But we wanted to be sure that you and Misao knew that the conversation was… well, there. At some point.”

“But if you… if it isn’t… why on earth would you think that _right now_ was…. Oh….. ohhhhhhhhh,” Kaoru said, with sudden realization. “We’re all going off to fight tomorrow, and I’m betting the odds are pretty good that at least one of our dastardly opponents will… what, try to make a deal? Start waxing rhapsodic about how tragic it is that Misao and I will fade away and die while you and Aoshi stay young and attractive forever? Imply that they might be able to help us with our pesky mortality problem?”

“That’s about the shape of it, yes.”

“And,” she continued, “if we know that there are options, and that you’re not putting pressure on us, we’re not going to do something really, really stupid that ends up with us…actually, you know what, don’t tell me what we might end up as, because I do actually want to get some sleep tonight, okay?”

Kenshin nodded briefly, looking as if a great weight had been lifted off of his shoulders. Kaoru realized suddenly that she felt the same way- she hadn’t been thinking about their respective lifespans, exactly, but… there had been an awareness, like a faintly ticking clock in the back of her mind.

“So, um, was that all that you came over to say?” she asked, trying to sound casual, but with an undertone of flirtation.

_‘Megumi or Misao would be much better at this,_ ’ she thought, then mentally rolled her eyes at herself for being ridiculous.

“Yes, that was… that was what I needed to tell you,” Kenshin said, then stopped. He looked at her expression again, and then grinned at what he saw there. “Although, of course, there are any number of other things I’d be very happy to… talk about, if you’re interested.”

Feeling like a flock of butterflies had taken up residence somewhere around her pancreas, Kaoru tried to sound casual as she said, “Well, I mean, since you’ve come all this way, I’m sure that there are lots of very… stimulating conversations that we could have. Although, um,” she blushed and indicated the upstairs of the house with a slight motion of her head, “we will have to keep any conversations, err, quiet.”

“Oh,” Kenshin said cheerfully, “don’t worry, kitten- I’m sure that you can manage to stay quiet, if you know it’s important.”

“Wait, why would _I_ have to be the one who….. mmpppph!!” 

* * *

Meanwhile, in a disreputable warehouse in a disreputable part of town, a thin man in a brown plaid suit continued to paint designs that reeked of iron and rot all over the walls of a room that seemed to pulse, faintly, in time with some unseen heartbeat.

“Almost time,” he crooned under his breath, “Soon, my lord, you will return, and witness the glorious new world that you are destined to crush beneath your fist and rule with an iron hand….”

There was no answer, except for the sound of jagged whispers, echoing in the corners, where nothing and no-one could possibly have made them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author’s Note: In this chapter, I am very happy not to own any disreputable warehouses or ANYTHING THAT IS HAPPENING IN THEM.


	45. Aim

If anybody had asked, Soujiro Seta wouldn’t have said that he’d had a bad life. A life that had not started out happily, of course, and a life that had gone in some unexpected (and unexpectedly violent) directions, but he wouldn’t have classified that as _bad_ , and would have told that to anybody who asked.

Then, of course, he probably would have killed them.

Today was going to be an exceptional day, one that should put him in an exceptional mood, he thought to himself as he patrolled the blocks around the warehouse. Again.

Personally, he thought that Hoji was being completely ridiculous- not a new state for the man, he acknowledged to himself, but one that he’d managed to forget about over the decades away. Not to mention that Shishio’s imminent return seemed to have fueled Hoji’s monomania, driving him to even higher heights of ranting declarations about the strong eating the weak, the need to completely dominate the enemy, and a general foaming-at-the-mouth paranoia that was annoying to deal with on a good day.

He reminded himself for the hundredth time that he really couldn’t kill Hoji.

In fact, now that he thought about it, he wasn’t entirely sure that _anybody_ could kill Hoji. The man had made some very questionable decisions about his humanity over the years in the name of bringing back his master, and Soujiro had heard some rumors that implied that Hoji had survived a lot that would have killed a normal human. He didn’t necessarily believe the ones about Hoji having been decapitated for over a week and needing to have Gein sew his head back on, but he himself had seen Hoji shrug off bullets with very little effort.

Reaching the end of the perimeter that he’d been told to patrol, he sighed and turned around to backtrack along the route for the third time since the sunrise.

‘ _You’d think they could have found a secret hideout with better access to a good cup of tea and some breakfast,’_ he thought with annoyance. 

At least they wouldn’t be here for much longer, he reminded himself. After tonight, they would be heading towards building an exciting new world and leaving the smoking ruins of this place behind.

* * *

Dr. Megumi Takani took a very deep breath and managed not to yell at the idiot she was on the phone with.

“I am aware that you are very busy,” she said, holding fast to her patience. “I am also aware that you have many, many people who are trying to reserve your services. However, that is no excuse for losing my confirmation, which I have a copy of right here. With, I might add, your supervisor’s signature. Yes, I’ll hold. Again.”

As the strains of “Girl from Ipanema” started playing, she rolled her eyes and went back to making a list of the things that she needed to pick up before their trip to the warehouse that night. What they had gotten from Kaoru’s grandfather covered one very important aspect of things, but she still needed some materials from the hospital. Nothing that anybody would miss- she wasn’t going to show up and start pelting the enemy with prescription medications and heart monitors.

The hold music ended and Megumi prepared to be direct but charming, with a side of completely ruthless.

She was in the middle of the argument when Sano strolled in, looking more like he belonged on a construction site than in a hospital office.

“Where exactly have you been?” she whispered, holding one hand over the phone receiver.

“Construction site,” he shrugged. “Had to pick some stuff up, reminisce about old times, you know how it goes.”

Megumi rolled her eyes. She did have some idea how it usually went with Sano and his old buddies across various legal and not-quite-so-legal industries, and was frankly surprised that he’d managed to extricate himself so quickly. And without a lot more alcohol being involved. She gestured that he should sit down as she finished up the phone call, her tone continuing to be perfectly polite and only slightly fanged. After getting an additional confirmation, and several apologies from the manager, she thanked them and hung up, then turned to Sano.

“What’s up, Meg?”

Narrowing her eyes at the nickname, she said, “We have an appointment, Wednesday evening, seven o’clock, at Yumeiro Cakes.”

“Wait, we what?”

Patiently, she said, “We have an appointment for wedding-cake tasting, at the most exclusive fancy bakery in town. Which, by the way, is not something that you can get out of by claiming to need to work at the bar, so don’t even try.”

“Hey, an evening of eating cake is not something I’m going to try to get out of, trust me!”

His tone was cheerful, but Megumi could see a slight hesitation in his expression.

“Considering how popular they are, getting an appointment this quickly was not easy, so you’d better not get out of it. And you’d better take it seriously; I realize that discussions about lemon frosting and elderflower syrup are not your normal fare…” 

“I know about elderflower syrup! Katsu did a seasonal cocktail with it once! Why are you assuming that I don’t know anything about elderflowers?”

Megumi narrowed her eyes at the interruption. “My point, Sano, is that this is the first of many meetings with local businesses about decorations and food and invitations, and I would very much appreciate getting your opinions so that this wedding is something that you feel like you have a stake in!”

Sano blinked. Then he stood up, came over, and did the best he could to hug her while she was still sitting down.

“Megumi, of course I have a stake in it. If you’ve had a vision of your dream wedding since you were a kid, that’s what I want you to have. If you, for some reason, think that I can contribute….” He blushed faintly. “I am really happy that you want me involved in this, okay? I just don’t want you to think that you have to make choices based on what I want, or have to have… some kind of, I don’t know, whiskey-laced wedding cake and traffic cone centerpieces to make me happy to be there, okay?”

She leaned against him, and he could feel some of the tension leave her shoulders. “Thank you,” she said with a faint sigh. “I… I know that I am probably getting a little intense about this.”

“’s fine,” Sano said, shrugging. “It’s our wedding; of course it’s going to get a little intense. But… Megumi, are you sure that you want to… to set up appointments now? I mean, before….. I mean, we could wait, until after…”

He trailed off, not quite sure what to say.

Megumi smiled. It was not exactly a cheerful expression. 

“Of course now is the time to set up these appointments,” she said calmly, “Because we’re going to win.”

* * *

Hajime Saitoh stubbed out his cigarette and looked at the map in front of him.

He could understand why their target was circled, but wasn’t sure it was also necessary to have the large red arrows pointing towards it. Whatever protections were on the building were unlikely to erase it from the map as they got close. 

Aoshi said, “Hannya confirmed that there are markings in these intersections around the warehouse; he didn’t go down to investigate them, but he said that they are visible from the rooftops.”

“So that’s how they’re warding the place,” Saitoh murmured. “How very predictable.” 

Misao piped up from her seat in the corner, where Saitoh had almost managed to forget she was sitting. “Are they just… paint? Or, um… well… not paint, but… are they just on the surface of the pavement?” 

“Presumably,” Aoshi replied, raising one eyebrow. 

“So, if somebody just went and spilled a bunch of paint on them to, would that short out the system? I mean, I’m assuming that none of you have done it yet because… what, it’s protected against any of you guys getting too close without getting, err, all brain-scrambled, right?” 

Aoshi and Saitoh looked at each other as a knock sounded on the door. 

“I’m sorry that we’re slightly late,” Kenshin said as he came in with Kaoru and Yahiko.

“Yahiko really wanted pancakes for lunch,” Kaoru explained. 

“Hey, ugly, don’t blame everything on me; you were the one who suggested the diner!” 

“They’ve got the good specials, brat!” 

Before the Kamiya siblings’ quarrel could escalate, Misao jumped in with, “Hannya figured out the reason none of these guys could get close to the warehouse without going all…” she made a suitably dramatic hand gesture, “soap opera plotline amnesiac.” 

Kaoru realized that she couldn’t quite tell whether Saitoh was looking more disgruntled than normal, or just the usual amount of annoyed at life. Before she could decide one way or the other, Aoshi said, “I wouldn’t exactly say that, but, yes, Hannya did figure out that they used a system of markings at the crossroads around the warehouses. Paint… at least mostly paint.” 

“Cool; how do we break it?” 

Off of Kenshin’s look, Yahiko shrugged and said, “What? I mean, that’s the point, right? I played this video game over at Yutaro’s house where there were these defensive markings, and if you messed up your mission, the bad guys activated them and, bam, you’ve got an impenetrable force bubble around the whole place, no chance of getting anywhere near it.” 

“Oh, I loved that game!” Sano said, “You had to use a jackhammer to smash through the symbols in the right order; it was great.”

Before Saitoh’s expression could turn even more annoyed, Kaoru jumped in. “I don’t think we need jackhammers… um… we aren’t going to need jackhammers, are we?” 

Aoshi looked thoughtful for a moment before he said, “No; I’m familiar with this type of barrier, and paint should suffice. They couldn’t do anything more solid without attracting the kind of attention they’re trying to avoid. Taking out one or two of the crossroads should render it ineffective.”

“Hey, Yahiko, want to go do some damage?” Misao asked eagerly. 

“You bet!” the teenager responded immediately. 

“Um… Misao, before you drag my brother off on a potentially dangerous mission, can you please at least assure us that you have a plan?” 

“Oh, I have more than one plan! First, we’re going to need to pick up some paint. And make a note of these intersections.” 

Kaoru looked from her friend, who was occupied with writing down street names, to her brother and sighed. “Fine. Kenshin, before they head off, do you think that this is something that should wait until closer to tonight, or is this something that isn’t going to get fixed if they knock it out this afternoon?”

Kenshin shared a look with Aoshi and Saitoh. “I think that, even if they decided it was worth spending time on so close to the main event, that they wouldn’t be able to get things up and running again before tonight.”

With a snort, Saitoh added, “At this point, I expect they would be happy to have us find them just so that they’d have something to alleviate the boredom.” 

“Don’t project your own feelings onto other people.” 

Misao stood up, ignoring the increase in tension between the two men. “Okay-Yahiko, let’s go get that paint. We’ve got a barrier to wreck!” 

As the two of them left, she waved cheerfully and said, “See you guys later tonight for the main act!” 

* * *

Yahiko hadn’t been quite sure what to expect when he’d followed Misao out of her apartment. He knew that it was going to involve paint, and intersections, but that was pretty much as far as he’d gotten. Just in case, he made sure to grab his bokken out of the car- after what had happened at the museum, he really wanted to avoid ending up without a weapon.

“Here’s what I’m thinking,” Misao said eagerly. “We hit at least three of those suckers, possibly more. Taking out at least half of them has got to be better than just knocking out one or two. Besides which, that gives us a chance to try out a bunch of different tactics.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, obviously, I’ve got my paintball gun in the car, so that’s a start.”

Yahiko started to ask what was “obvious” about that, then thought better of it.

Not noticing his momentary hesitation, she continued blithely on “Then I thought we’d get some spray paint, and a couple of gallons that we can just, you know, spill creatively. Lucky for us this is not a really busy part of town, especially on the weekends. As long as we’re quick, we shouldn’t have any trouble.”

“Dibs on the paintball gun!”

“You can’t call dibs; it’s my gun!”

“Well, you should have called it, then!”

“That’s not how any of this works! .... look, fine, you can have the paintball gun, but we’re gonna focus on the spray paint and just… spilling some stuff, okay?”

“Fine.”

“Great.”

Yahiko was pretty sure that Misao could have spent a lot longer at the hardware store; she was clearly working hard not to get caught up in paint types and color options, marching down the aisles with a grim expression as she tossed things into their basket.

“Ugh, I should have asked Aoshi about this… do you think neon is going to be better or worse than this matte stuff?”

“I… don’t think it’s going to matter. I mean, they would have told us before we left, right?”

“Ugh,” Misao said again. “Here’s hoping- guess we’ll just have to get a couple of options and see what happens.”

While they were still in the parking lot, Misao copied her list of intersections and sketched a quick map for Yahiko.

“Before I forget, did Kaoru give you any of the charms she got from your grandfather?”

When he nodded, Misao said, “Good; don’t know if you’ll need them, but, just in case. I’m going to drop you off here,” she said, pointing at one pair of streets. “Then you just have to hit these three intersections, if you can, and we’ll meet up here. That means we’re heading away from the warehouse, not towards it.”

“Definitely prefer to be heading away from it,” Yahiko agreed.

* * *

Misao waved at Yahiko as she drove away from dropping him off. She hadn’t lied to him, exactly, she thought. The set of intersections she’d assigned him _were_ heading away from the warehouse, but in order to meet up with him at the intersection that they’d agreed on, she was going to have to park there and then head towards the warehouse.

‘ _At least I am not going in this time,’_ she thought, with a shudder.

Once she’d parked the car, Misao loaded up her backpack with spray paint canisters, and pulled her bike out of the car trunk. She put the two gallon-sized containers of paint in the bike basket, carefully taking a minute to lever up the container covers so that they were sitting loosely over the contents.

After putting on her helmet and sunglasses, Misao very carefully pedaled along the street, avoiding potholes and anything else that might jostle her bike basket. She rode parallel to the intersections that she was going to have to take care of, not wanting to attract any attention that she didn’t have to.

Once, she was adjacent to her first targeted intersection, she accelerated, traveling faster and faster until she entered the crosswalk.

Then she deliberately leaned over while braking hard, crashing the bike and sending paint flying everywhere, including where she landed.

Standing up in the middle of a glorious technicolor mess, she winced, and muttered, “Oww.”

“Well, that looked very distressing,” a cheerful voice said from over next to one of the buildings that Misao had wiped out in front of.

The young man who had spoken looked perfectly cheerful, and completely immaculate. He also set off Misao’s radar for things that were… off, somehow.

Fortunately, her expression could be passed off as being shocked at the crash, she thought, even as part of her brain was reminding her of what Kenshin and Aoshi and Saitoh had said about Shishio’s henchpeople, particularly the one they’d called “Shishio’s most successful project.”

Even more fortunately, she and her bike were also covered in paint, and looked ridiculous rather than threatening. Or even particularly good at riding a bike.

“Ehhh,” she answered with what she hoped was an aww-shucks grin. “Could have been worse.”

“I’m surprised that the lids came off like that; aren’t paint cans usually sealed?”

“I don’t usually buy a lot of paint,” she said, absent-mindedly wiping her hands on her shirt in a way that clearly made even more of a mess. “Picked these up from a friend and was just trying to get them home. Teach me to take shortcuts, right?”

He hadn’t moved, and his posture was still casual, but Misao felt on edge.

Deciding that the only way out was through, she kept talking as she gathered up the paint cans, casually ignoring the fact that she was leaving footprints and drabbles of paint all across the intersection as she walked.

“Anyway, the bike’s okay, and that’s a lot more important. I mean, transportation over decoration, am I right? Can’t exactly get on the bus looking like this! Ugh, I’m not even sure that I’ll be able to get into the _house_ looking like this; serves me right for trying to do this all by myself. Oh, hey, can you see that other lid anywhere? I think I’m missing one. Not that it matters much at this point, I guess, but I hate to leave it. I mean, I bet I can still use the paint can, and that will be a lot easier if I have the lid for it. Gosh, I hope it’s not all bent up. That would be so annoying, you know?”

The young man, whose expression had gone slightly glazed about halfway through Misao’s speech, pointed to where the second paint lid had rolled. Misao cheerfully thanked him, and rolled her bike over there- again, leaving more lines of paint reaching almost over to the sidewalk. Then she put the lid on top of the paint canister and turned to leave, working very hard to ignore the prickling sensation on the back of her neck.

_‘If he wanted to kill you, he would have already done it, and there wouldn’t have been anything you could really do´_ she told herself firmly. It wasn’t exactly a reassuring thought, but she clung to it anyway.

“Well, guess I had better be off,” she said, still maintaining a cheerful veneer. “Looks like some of this is still salvageable, but, you know, without the lid, probably in danger of drying out, gotta keep an eye on that sort of thing when it comes to paint.”

She was very careful not to look back, wheeling her bike to where she could get back on and start pedaling- not too fast, she thought, not looking like she was trying to escape from….

“Have a pleasant afternoon, Miss Makimachi!”

The voice was still completely calm and pleasant, which actually made it worse. Suppressing a gasp, Misao turned around, her heart racing…

…. only to blink when she realized that the entire sidewalk was completely empty.

_‘That was… something,’_ she thought, not sure if she meant “threatening and weird,” or “pretentious and kind of over-dramatic.”

Possibly all of it. From her experience thus far, villains and their henchpeople tended to go for pretentious and over-dramatic, but with enough threat potential to actually back it up.

‘ _Either way, I don’t think I can stop to spray paint the other intersections that I was supposed to take care of. I don’t trust that guy not to be following me.’_

_‘I hope Yahiko is having better luck than I am….’_

* * *

Yahiko had had some time to plan while they were in the car. He was pretty sure that he could hit all three of his assigned intersections if he moved quickly enough. Besides which, it was going to be a lot easier to just mess stuff up rather than having to paint any kind of counter-pattern.

Art class had never been one of his strongpoints.

Fortunately, the first intersection had a bit of a slope to it. He just took the lids off of the paint cans, put them in the street, and kicked them down the hill, not even stopping to see where they rolled into the curb before he was strolling down the street towards the next target.

‘ _Casual… casual… just out for a mid-afternoon stroll in the industrial part of town, where people normally don’t stroll, with a paintball gun and a bunch of cans of neon spray paint in my bag… okay, this is not helping the ‘casual’ part of things…’_

There was also, just at the edge of his hearing, a faint, familiar noise. Yahiko swallowed, and picked up his pace a bit, heading towards the second intersection. He was pretty sure he was running out of time.

Barely slowing down, he yanked at the zipper on his bag and pulled out two cans of spray paint. With one in each hand, he pointed them towards the pavement and ran, full-tilt, at a diagonal across the intersection, then across and back, making a giant, ragged X-shape in flaming orange and neon flamingo. He paused and prepared to make one additional run when there was a whistling sound as something dropped towards him from above.

Yahiko barely had time to throw himself out of the way when there was a bang and a small explosion of debris from the middle of the intersection. The cans of spray paint went rolling as he landed hard on his shoulder, wincing at the pain.

Loud laughter made him look up to see a dark gaunt figure with what looked like ragged wings, soaring several stories up.

“Really?” Yahiko yelled “You again? Didn’t you have enough problems last time?”

Henya- well, Yahiko assumed it had to be Henya, based on Kenshin’s descriptions, snorted and said, “I wouldn’t consider you a problem, little boy.”

“I AM NOT A LITTLE BOY!” Yahiko shot back.

Clearly unimpressed, Henya circled again, reaching up into his shirt to pull out two more explosives.

Yahiko swore, loudly, as he dashed away from where Henya had thrown the bombs.

‘ _Think, Kamiya; you’re like a fish in a barrel down here… you need something that you can throw up there and… oh, hey, wait a minute….’_

He managed not to grin as he reached for the paintball gun, firing off three quick shots that hit Henya’s wings and caused him to make an undignified squawking noise as he struggled to stay airborne. Taking advantage of the distraction, Yahiko made a jump for the fire escape ladder and started climbing like his life depended on it.

Which, he supposed, it might.

By the time he’d gotten high enough for his- admittedly crazy- plan to work, the flying demon had righted himself and wiped the paint from his face.

“Alright, you brat, playtime’s over; now you’re going to see what I can really….”

With a yell, Yahiko launched himself from above, brandishing his bokken.

His thoughts were a jumble of ‘ _If this doesn’t kill me, Kaoru definitely will, well here goes nothing, launching yourself at an airborne monster is a terrible idea, why did I think this would work, ….,’_ but he kept himself steady, landing on Henya’s shoulders, with his feet braced just before his wings.

Then, as Henya began to plunge downwards due to the extra weight, Yahiko swung hard with his bokken, right at the man’s head.

They landed with a horrible noise, and Yahiko tumbled off, accumulating an impressive set of scrapes and bruises as he rolled to a halt a few feet from where Henya lay still, an oily fluid that Yahiko assumed was something like blood oozing out from under him.

Gingerly getting to his feet, holding his bokken steady, Yahiko winced as he said, “Guess you’re the one who’ll see what the Kamiya Kasshin style can really do.” He felt like his voice was shaking, rather than triumphant, and dimly wondered if it was blood or tears that he could feel on his face. Fighting monsters wasn’t quite what he had expected.

He wondered if Kaoru had felt like this, five years ago.

Keeping a careful eye on his opponent, as his father had taught him to do, he slid one of the charms he’d brought out of his jacket pocket and approached the prone figure.

As he slapped the charm onto the middle of Henya’s back, there was a whooshing noise, and a crackling around where he had been keeping his explosives that had Yahiko’s eyes widening as he backed up away from the street as fast as he could.

There was noise like a series of loud, echoing bangs, and a wind that couldn’t be explained by the explosions, and a light that Yahiko could see even as he closed his eyes. When he opened them again, there was a crater several feet across and about four feet deep in the middle of the intersection. The body had vanished, leaving behind scraps of fabric and paper that slowly dispersed in the dying breeze.

Yahiko gaped, and swallowed, backing away slowly and then faster, until he was sprinting away from the scene.

Skipping the final intersection altogether he was relieved to see a paint-splattered Misao in her car where they’d arranged to meet.

When she saw him, she started the engine and gestured with her head for him to move faster. Even though he had felt like he was running at top speed, he tried to put a little more power into it. If Misao was looking this nervous, clearly he wasn’t the only person who had run into unforeseen complications.

As soon as he’d gotten into the car, Misao started down the road. Yahiko struggled to put his seatbelt on while keeping his bokken close at hand.

“You okay?” he asked.

“I’m fine; I just… I only got one intersection done; there was a creepy kid who was pretty obviously one of Shishio’s henchmen, and he _knew my name_ , and even though I don’t _think_ he followed me, I am just gonna… .drive around randomly for a while, if that’s okay with you.”

Yahiko was pretty sure that the random driving would happen even if he said it wasn’t okay- but since neither of them had anything else planned until later that night, he just said, “Yeah, fine. I, um, got two intersections, but the second one…. yeah, you’re not the only one who ran into somebody.”

“Are you okay?” Misao demanded, turning towards him and noticing for the first time that he was banged up and had clearly been through some things since she’d last seen him.

“I.. yeah. Yeah. It was that same guy who attacked me before- the one with the wings. I, um, shot him with your paintball gun and managed to bring him down.”

Yahiko told himself that he wasn’t _exactly_ lying, just… preventing his sister from learning some of the stuff that he’d done to bring down his opponent.

“Did you….”

“Yeah, I used one of gramps’ charms. It, um…. it worked? I mean, I assume it worked; stuff also blew up kind of a lot. Which I think was just because the guy was carrying a bunch of bombs or something; I don’t think that my granddad created a set of exploding charms.”

“Wow, he and Katsu had better never get together about that,” Misao said. “Or maybe they should; that could be really… no, no; definitely shouldn’t,” she finished, seeing Yahiko’s expression.

“Anyway, it wrecked the intersection, so… I think we can say that we did what had to be done, in terms of breaking the barrier.”

“Here’s hoping. Hey, you want to get a burger or something?”

“That sounds amazing. And normal.”

“Normal sounds like a great idea right now.”

“Yeah.”

“Yeah.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In this chapter I do not own: "Yumeiro Patisserie," “The Girl from Ipanema,” or any magically-exploding Shinto exorcism charms….


	46. Everything's on Fire

Kaoru felt like it ought to be raining. Or, she thought as she and Yahiko carefully headed towards the warehouse, there should be some creepy fog. 

Something to make the atmosphere appropriately…. atmospheric, rather than just “decrepit warehouse area after dark on a moonless night….” 

Yeah, okay, maybe the atmosphere was already creepy enough even without any extraneous gothic flourishes. 

The lights were still on in the lobby, even though it was very late at night, and she could see a figure at the desk. If she had to guess, Kaoru would have said that nobody had cared enough to turn them off. After all, everything important was happening in the back, in that blood-stained room that Misao and Sano had barely escaped. 

Before she could think about that too much, Yahiko started grousing at her in a low tone. 

“I can’t _believe_ anybody thought there would be a real dojo here; that building’s all wrong, and this neighborhood is all old warehouses and cargo containers. You can hardly get near here if you don’t have a car!” 

“You can have a dojo someplace where you need a car to get there, you know.” 

He snorted. “Not if you want to attract kids who need to bike or take the bus.”

“Pretty sure anybody who fell for Gohei’s claims about his super-special martial arts style was old enough to drive- and probably working at Wing Kong anyway.” 

Yahiko continued to look offended, and Kaoru almost smiled. He was going to be really amazing when he finally started doing more to run the Kamiya dojo, she thought. 

“Okay,” she said, checking her watch as they got closer to the door. “We’ve got ten minutes before we need to be out and meeting up with Misao and Megumi. You remember the plan?” 

“Yes, I remember the plan,” Yahiko replied, letting the straps of the duffel bag he was carrying slide down to rest on his elbow. They both checked that their bokken were secure and took deep breaths.

“Good. Here we go. Pineapple on pizza: yes or no?” 

As they pushed open the door, Yahiko was in the middle of vehemently attacking the concept, gesturing even more broadly than she would have expected. 

Kaoru’s voice was equally strident, setting forth the reasons why it made sense, but only in the larger context of using Canadian bacon as the other topping. 

It took Judy- at least that’s who they assumed was behind the desk- several seconds to blink and turn to face them, her movements slightly jerky. 

“Welcome to Wing K-Kong Exchange,” she said, with an expression that was clearly trying to be a cheerful smile. “I-I-I am Judy. I am the receptionist here. How can I…. can I…. help you?” 

As she finished, she tilted her head and smiled – or something—more broadly. 

Before Kaoru could waste time wondering whether the problem was that the receptionist needed to recharge or something else, Yahiko stepped forward and declaimed, “Yes, we are here to see the tapest… er…. We are here for the _tournament_.”

Judy’s expression didn’t change.

“Mr. Hiruma was planning a tournament,” Kaoru said, “and we are here to compete against his students.”

Judy’s expression didn’t change.

Yahiko edged forward very, very carefully, his tone at odds with how cautiously he was moving.

“We’re very excited to compete against Mr. Hiruma’s students,” he said as he put his bag down in front of the reception desk, trying to ignore the way the back of his neck was prickling.

“Mr. Gohei Hiruma is the owner of the Wing Kong Express,” Judy finally said, still in that same cheerful monotone. “Unfortunately, he is currently out of the country due to unexpected supply chain issues.”

“That’s too bad,” Yahiko said, carefully unzipping the top of the bag and reaching inside.

“It really is too bad,” Kaoru agreed, deliberately keeping her eyes on Judy as her brother adjusted some things within the bag and pushed the correct buttons. “Since Mr. Hiruma isn’t here, we can just come back later.”

By now, Yahiko was carefully standing up, holding something in his hand that flashed with a faint red light. He wasn’t sure that Judy was really aware of him being just outside of her line of sight, and he wanted to keep it that way until he’d stuck the thing underneath the ledge of the desk. 

“Mr. Hiruma isn’t here,” Judy agreed, blinking again, tilting her head further and further. “You could come back later…. Or…. you could… you could… _just not leave_ ….” 

Kaoru and Yahiko both swore as the receptionist launched herself over the desk. Yahiko dropped what he’d been carrying as he pressed himself flat to the floor and rolled to the side, and Kaoru threw herself sideways, out of the way where what had been behind the desk landed. Judy’s eyes had gone completely black, with blackened veins spreading across her face, and her fingernails looked more and more like claws. What had been an approximation of a cheerful grin was getting wider, and wider, and she wasn’t entirely sure how many rows of teeth were in the receptionist’s mouth. 

“Okay, new plan, new plan!” 

“I know that, ugly!” 

The creature in front of Kaoru was making a sort of garbled hissing noise- she was pretty sure it couldn’t talk anymore—its head weaving back and forth like a snake. She grabbed her bokken and held it in a defensive position, but otherwise stayed very still.

There was no way to know how good the skin puppet’s eyesight was- whether it would only react to motion or whether it still knew that both of them were in there. 

There was another problem, but Kaoru was trying not to think about it for another thirty seconds or so. 

The puppet unhinged its jaw, something that was probably meant to be a tongue flicking back and forth as it kept hissing.

“Wow, I did not need to see that,” Kaoru murmured, then swore again as it charged at her, claws flashing. She was pretty sure that claws plus bokken would equal bad things for her weapon, and almost wished she’d taken Sano up on his lead pipe suggestion. 

“I think it’s got some snake…. bits… or something in there,” Yahiko yelled from across the lobby, his bokken at the ready.

“Yes, thank you, I can _see that_ —look out!” 

As the puppet spun towards Yahiko, Kaoru let out a yell and struck at its ankles. It stumbled forward, and her brother followed up with a blow to the back of the head, yelping as the very tips of one set of claws caught at his coat. 

“Yahiko!” 

“I’m fine, just the fabric, but Kaoru, we need to…” 

“I know!” 

The hissing puppet pushed itself up to all fours, joints popping and limbs stretching. More sharp claws protruded out of what had originally been a bright pink set of heels, and the black veins were pulsating all the way down its neck. 

“Ewww…..” the Kamiya siblings said in unison. Then they looked at each other, clearly thinking the same thing. 

“You know, this is really not a good way to encourage repeat business,” Kaoru said, trying to attract its attention away from where Yahiko was standing next to his bag. She could barely see a faint flashing light inside. 

She could also see that the flashes were getting closer together. 

As the puppet snarled and charged, Kaoru twisted out of the way and ran towards the reception desk. Yahiko, standing with his bokken at the ready, waited until she was past him and around the desk, then flung himself across it. As the hissing behind them started increasing in volume, it was matched by a faint ringing noise coming out of Yahiko’s bag. 

Wrenching open the door, they threw themselves through the doorway and scrambled down as much of the hallway as they could, chased by a loud explosive noise and a bright light that was followed immediately by a loud crashing noise and a sudden, quiet darkness. 

Panting, Yahiko looked at Kaoru. “I think we got it,” he managed. 

Leaning against the hallway wall, she said, “Yeah, but now we’ve got another problem.” She gestured to where what had been a doorway was now filled with rubble, fallen crossbeams, and the start of flames on the other side. Even if the way back to the doorway had been clear, they knew Katsu’s work well enough to know that the entire front part of the building was doubtless gone. 

“Oh.” Yahiko’s expression deflated slightly. 

Kaoru stood up and looked down the darkened hallway. “Well, we’d better get going anyway. Can’t stay here.” 

Reaching out a hand, she helped her brother to his feet, and they prepared to head deeper into the building. 

As they walked, she tried very hard to ignore what sounded like faint chanting up ahead. 

There were some memories she really didn’t need in her head right then. 

* * *

Misao and Megumi were almost at the designated meeting place when they heard the explosion and stared at the flames. 

“How the _hell_ did Katsu think that wouldn’t get noticed?” Misao demanded once the noise had died down. 

“Ummm… I don’t think that was supposed to happen,” Megumi murmured, adjusting her bag carefully to minimize any clinking noises. “Or at least… it wasn’t supposed to happen quite that much.” 

“It’s _Katsu_ , I’m not sure he does “not quite that much.” 

Megumi gave an absent-minded snort as she peered around the corner to where they were supposed to rendezvous with Kaoru and Yahiko. 

“Damn,” she said, with surprising vehemence. 

“What?” 

“They’re not there.” 

“What do you mean, they’re not… sorry; stupid question. What do we do? I mean, where do you think….” Misao trailed off as she looked to where smoke was still visible above the other buildings. 

Megumi forced her tone to remain calm. This was no different from being at the hospital, she told herself. This was no different from any other time when she had to deal with a change in circumstances in the middle of an emergency.” 

“We keep going with the next step,” she said. Off of Misao’s faintly shocked expression she continued, “They’re both smart; they’ve dealt with bad situations before. We have to trust that- and you know as well as I do that we can’t do anything if they… if they did get caught in… in _that_.” 

Misao swallowed. “Stay focused on the bigger problem? Yeah. Okay. I can do that.” 

“Right. Plan now; necessary additional violence later.” 

The grin that Misao gave her in exchange was positively feral. Together, they headed quietly down the darkened streets, towards where the warehouse was now faintly illuminated by the flames coming out of what used to be the lobby.

* * *

Kenshin Himura was well aware that patience was not always one of his strongpoints. He’d worked hard at it over the years- he was definitely better than he had been during the Bakumatsu, but that wasn’t a high bar to clear, given that much of his philosophy back then could have been summarized as “don’t give them time to scream.” 

At the moment, he felt a level of twitchiness that couldn’t even be explained by being on a rooftop next to Hajime Saitoh, who was casually smoking his fourth cigarette of the last hour. 

“Are we sure that….” 

“You’ve asked five times already.” 

“You don’t even know what I was going to say!” Kenshin snapped. 

“Either you were going to ask if we were sure that the wards had been destroyed, which Aoshi and Hannya have already confirmed twice, or you were going to ask whether all of the humans can remember what they’re supposed to do, which both Aoshi and I have answered affirmatively three times, and which you’re only asking because you’re worried.” Saitoh held up a hand to forestall what Kenshin was going to say next. “It’s completely understandable to worry, but there’s no point in….” 

The explosion cut loudly across whatever Saitoh was going to say next. 

After several seconds of silence, he said, “Well, that was… surprising.” 

Kenshin rushed to look out at the warehouse. Saitoh joined him after a moment. 

“Well?” he asked carefully. 

Kenshin’s hands clenched tightly on the parapet, then relaxed as he exhaled. 

“She’s unharmed. Yahiko as well, I think, although it’s slightly harder to say for sure. Wherever they are, they escaped from that.” 

“Good.” Saitoh considered adding something, but was aware that describing Kaoru’s escape from injury or death in terms of “things that made it less likely that Himura would get distracted and screw up the upcoming battle” would not go well. 

“Well, the bar owner does seem to know his explosives,” Aoshi remarked as he joined them on the roof. “Although I don’t think that was supposed to happen all at once.” 

“Aoshi, what did you find?” 

“For the third time, Himura, the wards are down, and there should not be a problem getting into the…” 

Kenshin managed to refrain from growling as he said, “I meant, did you find anything new on this patrol.” 

“Ah. No; it seems to be the same.” 

“Well, then, gentlemen,” Saitoh said, stubbing out his cigarette. “I believe that it’s about time for us to depart.” 

As they left the roof, Kenshin managed not to rush ahead. He was, after all, focusing on being patient. 

Whether or not he felt like giving any of their upcoming opponents time to scream or not was another issue.

* * *

Overall, Yahiko felt like he and Kaoru had been lucky. All of their bombs were gone, of course, as was the lobby, on account of, well, the bombs, but they had gotten out of there in time to avoid injury, and there hadn’t been any choking clouds of dust to contend with.

Of course, the ruins of the entire front of the building were still _on fire_ , and they hadn’t been able to actually get the door from the lobby closed, which meant that the fire was probably spreading behind them.

‘ _Still, it could have been a lot worse,’_ he reminded himself, remembering the distorted face of what had once been the receptionist.

“We should be coming up on that door,” Kaoru remarked, interrupting his thoughts. “Can you see anything?”

“Umm… it’s kind of dark in here, and the flashlights were…”

“In your bag; I know. Just… they said it was metal, and kind of dark, which means that it should look different from all of this… brown.”

“Is that it, up there?”

Kaoru squinted. “I think so.”

‘Umm, Kaoru?” Yahiko swallowed. “Can you hear that?”

“Trying not to, but, yeah.”

“Right. Okay. Good.”

As they reached the door, Yahiko reached out and put his hand on Kaoru’s arm before she could actually open anything.

“Those charms… they will work, right?”

Kaoru put her hand over his reassuringly. “You’ve already used one, right? And that worked just fine.”

“Well, yeah,” he answered, “but that was…. I mean, it wasn’t for protection against…”

“Yahiko, how many years did Kenshin’s sword stay hidden under my bed, covered in charms?”

He paused. Then, remembering, he managed a shaky grin. “Right.”

Together, they opened the door.

* * *

Misao and Megumi peered around the corner at the back of the warehouse. Misao adjusted the large messenger bag she had slung across her torso.”

“Did you really have to bring all of that?” Megumi whispered.

“Hey, you never know what might come in handy.” Reaching into her bag to pull out the rough sketch she’d made, Misao said, “Okay, that should be the back wall of the room of doom.”

“I really wish you would stop calling it that.”

“I don’t think that’s the most important thing for either of us to be wishing for right now. Just saying. Gatorade?”

Megumi managed not to roll her eyes.

“For example,” Misao said, before putting her beverage back into the bag, “how the heck are we supposed to get in there?”

Megumi blinked, then swore. “We don’t have the bombs,” she realized.

“We do not,” Misao agreed. “Normally, I would say we look for a fire exit, but, um, it looks like it might be on fire.”

“Did the… room of doom have any windows?”

“I don’t think so; it was just… this cavern. If there was anything, it was up way too high to be useful, and I think they probably boarded it up. In keeping with the general “doom” aesthetic.”

“Okay,” said Megumi, sounding determined. “Here’s what we’re going to do- we’re going to get closer, and we’re going to find some way to get into the building itself and take things from there.”

“That sounds great, but, um, Megumi?”

“Yes?”

“What are we going to do about whoever’s coming up behind us?”

* * *

The stench within the room was, if anything, even worse than Sano had described it. Kaoru had to work very hard to keep herself from gagging as they entered.

‘ _Look on the bright side_ ,’ she told herself, ‘ _being grossed out is better than being hypnotized or zombified or whatever almost happened to Sano and Misao.’_

Yahiko, whose face had gone slightly green, carefully closed the door behind them and followed Kaoru behind a set of shelves. Even if nobody was paying attention to whether the door was open or not, the faint smell of smoke meant that closing it was the right choice.

On the other hand, the torches around a raised platform in the center meant that everything still smelled smoky. With, he realized, a faint hint of citronella.

“Are they… are they using Tiki torches as part of their evil ritual to raise a demon from Hell?” he hissed to Kaoru.

She blinked. “Um… I guess it was what Gohei had in stock?”

Yahiko snorted, clearly unimpressed with the forces of evil.

Meanwhile, Kaoru was examining the layout of the room and, more importantly, who was in it.

There was a thin man in a plaid suit in the center of the platform, directing several shambling figures as they placed a bowl and a sword in the center. From this angle, Kaoru couldn’t see the top of the platform well, but she would have bet that it was covered in symbols that she didn’t want to know the meaning of.

Around the platform, a horde of other figures stood motionless. Something about them seemed slightly off- well, she amended, the metallic-looking claws were an obvious issue, but something about how all of the parts were coming together, the size of the arms in relation to the torsos and legs… although at least they all seemed to have the right number of limbs. In the corner across from where they were hiding, rickety stairs went up to a catwalk that encircled the room, with what looked like half of its guardrail missing, and some of the boards.

“Kaoru, what do we do? Misao and Megumi aren’t here and we don’t have…”

“We don’t have the bombs,” she finished for him. “I know; just give me a minute- I don’t want to just jump in without having a … _DUCK!”_

To his credit, Yahiko acted on instinct and years of training, throwing himself out of the way as a set of claws came whooshing towards him out of the darkness. Noticing how his eyes went wide as he looked over her shoulder, Kaoru did the same.

Their assailants were some of those same shambling figures who were standing in the center of the room, she realized. As she and Yahiko came up, bracing shoulder to shoulder and lifting up their bokkens, she whispered, “I think these must be the Owls.”

“… will you please just pick a bird and stick with it?”

“No, I mean, Aoshi mentioned them, remember? More of those constructs, like he and Misao fought that one time.”

“Oh, right.” Yahiko spun forward and struck his opponent’s shoulder, a loud cracking noise echoing as the Owl’s arm hung limply.

There wasn’t any more time for talking as their opponents slashed forward jerkily. They were large, and bulky, but didn’t seem to be very fast. 

Of course, with their size and the amount of muscle power they could put behind those vicious-looking claws, Kaoru supposed they didn’t need to be very fast. She swung from her crouched position at the knees of the monster in front of her. It fell heavily into the shelving, which collapsed on top of it, leaving it twitching faintly.

‘ _Well, on the plus side, that’s one down.’_ Kaoru thought as she looked towards the center of the room. ‘ _On the negative side, there goes the element of hiding quietly….’_

“Yahiko, more of them are coming; we’ve got to finish this one off and move….”

He finished spinning away from flashing claws and slammed his bokken into the monster’s jaw, knocking it into the wall. Looking into the center of the room, he could see three more shambling figures moving towards them.

“Right,” he said.

Kaoru nodded. “Left- and don’t do anything stupid.”

With a sharp nod, he took off in one direction as Kaoru went the other way. He knew that they were playing for time, but at least this way, they weren’t offering a single combined target. After he’d gotten partway around the room, he checked to see what the situation was… and his eyes widened as he realized that all three of the Owls who had broken away from the center had turned to follow Kaoru.

She was standing with her back to the wall, face set in a grimly determined expression as her three opponents bore down on her.

With horror, Yahiko registered that they were speeding up, boots slamming into the warehouse floor faster and faster.

There was no way he could get across the room in time, even if he ran faster than he ever had; even if he could get through the mass of figures standing there.

She was going to die.

She was going to die horribly, and he couldn’t do anything to help, and even if he could get there, it wouldn’t be enough and…

The pounding noise of Yahiko’s own heart and the pounding noise of the boots were suddenly shattered by the shrieking, twisting noise of cheap sheet metal bending and crumpling as the wall of the warehouse broke inward, leaving a massive hole.

The charging Owls had seconds to turn towards the noise before the giant yellow bulldozer flattened them beneath its treads. 

Yahiko blinked.

Kaoru blinked.

“Hey, guys!” Sano said cheerfully as he exited the cab. As he turned back to rummage around behind the seat, they could see a giant fist logo over the label “F.N. Kiwami Construction, Ltd” on the door. Pulling out several large mallets, Sano continued, “Thought about just driving my car, but had a feeling we might need to bust down some walls. Good thing Mr. Kiwami owed me a favor from that time I….”

“Sano, more preparing to fight, fewer amusing anecdotes,” Megumi said from where she and Misao were carefully picking their way through the giant bulldozer-shaped hole in the wall.

“Fine, fine. But remind me to tell you the story later, because… right, sorry. Big hammer?”

“I don’t think we need them quite yet,” Misao remarked, grinning at Kaoru and Yahiko. “Also, hi, guys, very glad you did not get blown up.”

“Hi, Misao; sorry we couldn’t make the rendezvous point; the creepy attack skin puppet kind of threw off our plans.”

“It’s fine; please do not ever tell me the details of that story.”

Yahiko, who had been looking back and forth between the adults as they talked, burst out, “This is all great, but, um, we’ve still got monsters to deal with.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t worry about that, young Mr. Kamiya,” an oily voice said from the center of the room. “After all, they won’t be a concern of yours for very long, will they?”

The group turned as one to stare at where the voice had come from. The man in the brown plaid suit was grinning at them like a very pleased shark from the middle of the platform, and the entire group of Owls had turned their heads to face them.

“Sano, I think that we may want those big hammers right about now…..”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In this chapter I do not own: Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade or any Tiki torches.
> 
> Author’s note: And Yahiko joins the proud Kamiya family tradition of “setting a building on fire a lot”! And Sano gets a bulldozer (partly because there wasn’t a way in-universe to have him develop magical punching techniques, but mostly because, well, Sano with a bulldozer).


	47. Battle Stations

Having made his dramatic pronouncement, Hoji made a gesture and the Owls started moving, jerkily at first. He turned away, his expression satisfied, and began to make a series of more dramatic gestures towards the sword as he began to chant. A glowing barrier surrounded the platform, distorting his words as it cut him off from the rest of the warehouse as he focused exclusively on the ritual that was going to return his master to life. 

Without even having to think about it, the group scattered before the Owls could start charging. 

“Bulldozer!” 

“I know!” Sano yelled back as he scrambled back into the cab and turned on the machine. He grimaced, considering his options. 

‘ _Driving through that platform is out,’_ he thought, ‘ _at least until that guy has finished the ritual…’_

Frankly, Sano was not sure how much control he had over the machine- it had been a while since he’d worked construction, and he hadn’t ever been one of the guys who drove the heavy equipment. Straight line through a wall, he could manage- steering inside a warehouse while his friends were running around seemed like a really bad idea. 

A set of Owls charged towards him, claws out and mouths working. He barely had time to notice how their throats were bulging before they were spitting something green and viscous at the bulldozer. Reacting on instinct, he slammed down the lever that controlled the bucket. It descended rapidly, crushing the Owls beneath it. 

Unfortunately, whatever they had spat out was hissing and bubbling where it had made contact with the glass windshield, and Sano was pretty sure he didn’t want to stick around and see what would happen once it got through. Swearing, he switched off the bulldozer, yanked out the keys, and got out of the cab. Picking up one of the remaining hammers, he prepared to face any additional attackers. 

* * *

Misao and Megumi took off together towards the corner with the stairs. 

“You need to get up there, right?” Misao asked. 

“Ideally, yes,” Megumi replied. “Don’t worry; I’ll be careful. I can see where those boards… um… aren’t.” 

“Right. You climb; I’ll… figure something out.” 

Megumi nodded and picked up speed. As she reached the stairs, Misao turned to face the group who were in shambling pursuit. 

Rifling through her bag, she tried to think of something. 

‘ _Charms won’t work, at least not unless I’m really close… really close is a bad idea…. I don’t think throwing a lighter at them is going to do anything…. Nope, nope… oh. Hey.’_

As she pulled out the bag of incense they’d gotten from Kaoru’s grandfather, she mentally shrugged. At this point, anything was worth a shot. 

Looking up as she flicked the lighter on, she realized that the Owls were closer. Definitely closer. And, based on what she’d noticed before, it looked like they were about to go from “shambling” to “charging.” 

“Ouch, dammit,” Misao winced as the lighter burned her fingers. It dropped into the bag and she blinked, then shrugged and threw the entire thing towards the approaching creatures. Almost immediately, a cloud of smoke started pouring out, much faster than she would have expected. She could have sworn that there were faint sparkles in it, and the odor was… not quite sweet, but something faintly floral. As the smoke continued to billow, she realized that the Owls had stopped. 

They seemed to be swaying back and forth slightly, looking faintly confused. 

In fact, she realized, they were all wobbling and dropping to the ground as if they’d been cut off at the knees, falling gracelessly to lie without moving as the smoke swirled around them. 

‘ _Score one for Kaoru’s granddad and his, um, wacky… incense,’_ Misao thought as she planned her next move. 

* * *

Kaoru and Yahiko hadn’t meant to get themselves cornered. 

Technically, they weren’t _in_ the corner yet, but they were both literally and figuratively against the wall, and the Owls were clearly trying to drive them cornerwards. 

“Door?” Kaoru asked, ducking out of the way of a set of claws. 

“Too far,” Yahiko answered as he brought his bokken down on the top of one of the Owl’s heads. 

“How can there not be…” _thwack_ “…another exit on this side?” _thwack_

“Well, when we’re done you can file an OSHA complaint!” _thwack_

Kaoru gave her brother a grim smile. 

‘ _We’re a distraction,’_ she thought, _‘we have to be distracting, that’s our job. We can do this.’_

Even if they ended up in the corner, she thought, they would keep fighting. Because Kenshin and Aoshi and Saitoh and _everybody_ were all counting on them. Even the people who would never know what was happening here were counting on them. 

And the Kamiya Kasshin style was all about protecting people.

* * *

Megumi’s first view of the catwalk hadn’t been encouraging. Her second- and much closer- view was even less so. Picking her way gingerly around gaps and rotten boards, she reached the corner, where there was more support. 

Putting down her bag, she knelt down carefully, wincing at the grime. 

‘ _Good thing I was already planning on burning these pants,’_ she thought. 

She pulled out a square of fabric and placed a small bowl in the middle of it. It wasn’t exactly a purified space- definitely not anything her ancestors would have approved of, whether they had been doctors or shrine priestesses- but it was the best that she could do. 

After pouring some sacred sand into the bottom of the bowl, she lit several incense sticks around a paper charm covered in kanji characters. 

A name. And, she hoped, a summons. 

The air quivered faintly, and there was a noise like a sigh, then the smoke curling up from the incense shifted into the form of a woman, dark hair pulled back into an elaborate bun, red lips visible against a pale face. 

She was, Megumi noted without surprise, extremely beautiful- but her expression was intelligent, and her eyes were watchful. 

“Komagata Yumi-san,” Megumi said, standing up and bowing politely. “I wondered if we could talk. 

Yumi raised an eyebrow, clearly curious as to why she had been summoned on this night of all nights. 

“You can’t use me to stop Shishio-sama,” the ghost said firmly, crossing her arms. “If you’re trying to have me help you stop him, it won’t work.” 

Megumi nodded. “I know. That’s not what I wanted to ask. My name is Dr. Megumi Takani.” 

The spirit looked slightly curious, which Megumi took as a positive sign. 

“Komagata-san…”

“Yumi is fine; I’m aware that this is a…. less formal age.” 

“Yumi. I wanted to ask you… are you happy?” 

“Am I…. what?” Yumi blinked at her. 

‘ _Carefully… carefully…’_ Megumi thought, trying to organize her thoughts. 

“I know how you died,” she said, trying to keep her tone neutral. “I… I don’t know what things have been like for you after that, of course, but… I did hear the story about how you died. And…” Megumi paused and looked up at the ceiling, then looked back at Yumi’s ghost, making direct eye contact as she said, “I don’t know what it was like, living as a woman in nineteenth-century Japan, trying to… trying to survive, and make a life for yourself back then. But I remember when I learned about the _Maria Luz_ case, and about what it meant for women in your profession.” 

“Those government buffoons,” Yumi spat, “You can’t _imagine_ what it was like for us, after centuries of tradition, all of the work that we put into our lives, all for entertaining men like _that_ , who considered us less than _dirt_.” 

“Yeah,” Megumi said softly, agreeing. “But… where you are now….” She held up a hand as Yumi tensed, looking ready to argue about Shishio again. “What I mean is, you…you know what the odds are that Hoji’s going to bring you back too, right? I mean, he’s got one bowl and one sword down there, and even if your ashes are in that bowl, can he really separate them out?” 

The courtesan’s ghost looked momentarily stricken, then resigned. “I know that being… physically present isn’t going to be possible, at first, but Shishio-sama has said that he wants me with him. Needs me. And that, when he can, he…” 

“Yumi, I’m sorry, but… do you really think that he’s going to spend time trying to… what, have you reanimate a random dead body? Keep you half-alive, trapped in a corpse, just so that he kept his promise? And what about when it starts rotting, is he going to send you back to the morgue, or find some poor girl on the streets that nobody will miss, and tell you that it’s all about the strong surviving and the weak getting devoured?” 

If a spirit could look nauseous, Yumi did. Her throat bobbed faintly as she swallowed. 

“I’m sorry,” Megumi said again. 

“I know,” Yumi said, her voice sounding full of unshed tears and long-forgotten grief. “I know what it means, that he can’t bring me back with him tonight. But even if I’m just a spirit, what could be better than being able to be with him as he restores order to the world?” 

“Would you like me to make a list?” Megumi demanded. “I know that we don’t have a lot of time at the moment, but I will happily spend it making a list of things that would be better than that.” Yumi looked too shocked to speak, and Megumi knew that she was probably shooting herself in the foot, but the fact that this woman had lived a life marked by hardship and tragedy and then had been murdered by a megalomaniac for _completely_ _stupid_ _reasons_ and was now facing a variety of even worse fates was making her more furious than she’d been in years. “You deserve better than that, and anybody who makes you think that that’s the _best possible outcome_ is an idiot who deserves to have his ….” 

Taking a deep breath, Megumi got herself back under control. Yumi’s eyebrows had gone up practically into her hairline. 

“You’re not an accessory,” Megumi said softly. 

The ghost’s smile was sad, and wistful, and Megumi thought again about what it would have been like, to be a top-ranking oiran in the early Meiji era. 

Before Yumi could say anything, Megumi held out a hand. “I have a suggestion. For you. It’s… well, just hear me out.” 

“All right,” Yumi said, looking curious. 

“Well, you’re… I mean, when you were alive, you were Buddhist, at least about your afterlife, right?” 

“Yes?” Yumi said, not quite clear where Megumi was heading. “I did end up in the Buddhist hells, after all.” 

“Exactly! And, um, if you’d had people performing the rituals for you, you would have, probably, by now, gotten onto the wheel, and… well, you would have come back.” 

“I…. suppose…” Yumi said, still confused. 

Reaching into her backpack, Megumi pulled out the special charms that she had gotten at Sunny Pines. Yumi’s eyes widened as she read the characters on them. 

“I… will that… _can_ that work?” she asked. 

“I’ve checked it- well, I mean, as much as I could,” Megumi corrected. “It’s a known ritual- I had an ancestor who performed it several times, and her notes were extensive. And, of course, the person who wrote the charms had skill.” 

“I can see that… it’s… glowing.” 

Megumi couldn’t see any glow, but took it as a good sign that a spirit could. 

“Here’s my offer,” she said firmly. “If we do this and it doesn’t work, of course, you’ll… well, you will still be a spirit. Still as you are. So you won’t have lost anything. If you agree, and this works… you’ll get a fresh start. A new life. And, um, I won’t try to tell you that things are perfect, but…there’s a lot that’s better.” 

Yumi raised one exquisitely cynical eyebrow. “Why should I accept a bargain from somebody who is hoping that Shishio-sama will lose?” 

“Does it matter what I’m hoping for?” Megumi pressed. “Whether he wins or loses, it’s not going to affect your resurrection.” 

Yumi looked thoughtful for a moment, then shook her head. 

“No. But I can’t. I promised Shishio-sama that I would stay by his side; I’ve been with him so long….” 

Privately, Megumi felt that Yumi needed extensive time with a trained therapist and a lot of resources about abusive relationships, but she pushed all of that aside and said, “Who says you couldn’t be?” 

Yumi looked baffled, but she pressed on. “Look, you’ll be alive again, and if Shishio wins, he’ll be taking over the world, and then… you just have to find him, right?” 

“I… don’t think that’s quite how things work. I’m not going to be born remembering my past lives.” 

“Ah, but you’re saying that you are bound to Shishio by fate,” Megumi argued, silently thanking many late nights with her aunts watching Asian drama. “So that means you’ll find each other, right? The red thread will tie you together, and… and all that. Spending some time separated from him seems a small price to pay for _not having to be dead._ ” 

“But what if he loses?” Yumi said, softly, sorrowfully- and Megumi wondered what the woman actually thought about his odds. 

“Well,” Megumi said, her tone infinitely practical, “if he loses and you’re a spirit, you’ll be stuck as a spirit, and I’m betting that being in the Buddhist hells without his protection will be _extremely awful_. If he loses and he’s really destroyed and you’re on your way to a new life, you will live that new life free of the weight of your past. If he loses and his spirit also gets reborn….” She gestured. “Red thread, and this time he won’t, err... be in danger of catching on fire after fifteen minutes?” 

At that, Yumi almost- almost- laughed. “You make a very convincing case, Dr. Takani.” 

“Megumi.” 

“Megumi.” Even though she didn’t need to breathe, Megumi could see the spirit sighing deeply as she made her decision. 

“It’s been such a long time,” she murmured, “since I have decided for myself.” Her expression became calm and certain, and she nodded. “I choose… I choose to live, Megumi. That is my decision.” 

Megumi couldn’t help the grin that spread across her face as she placed the new charms in the bowl. “Good luck,” she whispered softly as she lit them on fire with one of the incense sticks. 

The charms sputtered and caught, the brightly-colored flames streaming up into brilliant plumes of smoke that wrapped around Yumi’s spirit,color rippling across the red of her clothing and the deep brown of her hair. 

As the smoke curled tighter and began to swirl upwards, vanishing into nothing, Yumi began to dissolve into it, leaving behind the faintest scent of flowers, and a nearly-silent “Thank you…..” that lingered several seconds after she’d gone. 

Megumi swallowed and kept staring, until a loud _crack_ brought her back to herself. 

The bowl, now completely empty, had cracked clean across, the broken edges momentarily glowing red before they faded into black. 

“Huh,” Megumi said. 

Folding the bowl fragments into the cloth and placing it back into her bag, she settled into a more comfortable position. 

She knew what the next phase of her part in the plan was.

Right now, as much as she wanted to be involved, the only thing that she could really do was wait and hope.

* * *

One of the good things about Sano’s height, Kaoru thought, was that he was really good at swinging for the head. And one of the good things about Sano’s overall personality was that he, well, was good at charging into a fight while swinging a giant hammer and screaming a lot. 

‘ _Every Owl that’s over here is one less Owl that might figure out where Megumi and Misao are,’_ she thought, managing not to yelp as she was knocked into a wall. Breathing heavily, she looked at the situation, trying to plan her next target carefully. 

Yahiko, who hadn’t dodged quite fast enough, was bleeding on one leg, but determined to keep standing. Sano knocked the Owl’s head sideways, but then looked faintly green as it moved its head back into place with a sickening _crunch_ sound. 

Kaoru launched herself forward and slid, taking it down at the knees. 

“Aim for the legs!” she yelled, “This will be easier if we knock them down!” 

Then several of the monsters facing them started to flex their jaws, throats bulging. 

“ _Kaoru! Yahiko! MOVE”_ Sano yelled, tackling them both to the side. The acid- or whatever it was- hit the floor and the wall, hissing and bubbling. 

“That smells….so gross…” Yahiko managed. 

“Are they supposed to be able to do that?” Kaoru knew it was ridiculous to sound offended, but she couldn’t help it. 

“Umm… must be a recent upgrade,” Sano grumbled as he got to his feet. The Owls were turning towards where the three of them had landed, their motions jerky but definite. 

Unfortunately, where the three of them had landed was in the corner of the warehouse. 

Grimly, Kaoru got to her feet and brandished her bokken. If they could just charge forward and hit the monsters before they actually belched acid again… 

She was so caught up in mental calculations that she almost missed the faint noise of a blade. Her expression was almost as surprised as the row of Owls in front of her as their heads toppled off, hitting the floor with a “splat” right before their bodies followed. 

“Sorry we’re late, kitten- we ran into some trouble.” 

“No, we didn’t,” Saitoh said. Seeing Kenshin’s expression, he clarified, “We ran into Usui, who _wishes_ he counted as trouble. Pretentious moron.” 

“Oh,” Kaoru said, swallowing. “Thank you… your timing was… good.” 

“Better than good,” Sano said, dredging up a broad grin from somewhere. 

“Is that dude ever going to be done with all that chanting?” Yahiko asked, finally getting a chance to look back towards the platform. 

“We’re going to deal with that in a minute,” Kenshin promised, “Aoshi just needs to… uh…” He blinked. “Shinomori?” 

* * *

Misao was rapidly coming to the conclusion that she’d picked the wrong side of the catwalk to try to sneak around the upper level of the room. 

Of course, she was coming to that conclusion while frantically holding on to a rotting wooden board that was rapidly disintegrating under her nails, grabbing for a twisted guard rail that was pulling away from the structure with a screech of twisting metal. 

‘ _Please don’t let me land on top of the Owls, please don’t let me land on top of the…’_

As the wood finally gave way, she managed not to scream as she fell, squeezing her eyes shut. The sudden stop made her gasp, and she opened her eyes to look up into Aoshi’s concerned-looking face.

“Oh… uh… thank you” she managed as he carefully put her back on the ground. “I… um… guess that I misjudged how stable that side of the catwalk was.” She was proud of the fact that her breathing sounded almost normal.Aoshi looked at the group of Owls lying on the ground, twitching, and raised an eyebrow. 

“Don’t ask,” Misao said. 

“Well, this is very sweet, really,” the young man said as he materialized out of the shadows in the corner of the warehouse. “But I’m afraid I’m going to have to cut this…” 

“Hey, you!” Misao interjected, “What the heck was that?” 

“Uhhh…” he replied, blinking. 

“You’re Soujiro, right?” 

When he looked like he was about to start another speech rather than answer her question, Misao rolled her eyes, a clear sign that she wasn’t about to be impressed by villainous monologuing, and said, “You were lurking outside the restaurant in the middle of the day when Kenshin and Kaoru had their date, and you were lurking in the middle of the day when I was…..” 

“Falling over into a puddle of paint?” Soujiro suggested. 

“Thanks.” 

“Misao, I’m not sure this is the best time…” Aoshi murmured, _sotto voce_. She ignored him. 

Stepping closer, she continued, gesticulating broadly “Anyway- what the heck was that, with the… lurking and the general ‘oooo, look, I’m mysterious, I could be anywhere and I know your name, like a creepy stalker.’” 

Many people who had had to deal with Misao Makimachi in the past would have recognized Soujiro’s expression and empathized with it. Most of them, like Soujiro, would also have been at a loss for words. 

“You started out human, right?” she asked, her tone not unsympathetic. 

“I started out _weak_ ,” Soujiro almost snarled. “Shishio-sama made me strong.” 

“You were a _child_ ,” Misao snarled back, angry on behalf of his long-ago self. He blinked. “Shishio took advantage of that. And his definition of “strong” is _stupid_. Killing people and… and… destroying things and saying that you’re strong, that you’re creating a new world? That’s not strength; that’s just being a bully making excuses for poor impulse control. I’ve known lots of people who are _actually_ strong, who face danger and help out and stand up for others.” 

“Himura already tried to convert me, you know. It didn’t work then, and it won’t work…” 

“No offense to Kenshin, he’s great, but let me guess- he gave you a speech and then let you just figure it out while, what, wandering around Meiji era-Japan by yourself?” 

Soujiro blinked again. Then he nodded. 

“Yeah, that’s about what I thought.” 

For a moment, the young man’s face looked regretful, and very, very young. Then his expression hardened, and he said, “The past is dead; it doesn’t matter anymore. Today, Shishio-sama is going to rise again, and we _will_ create a new order. But first…” he drew his sword, almost too fast to see. “I’m going to have to kill you.” 

“I bet that you won’t!” Misao said. 

“What?” 

“Wait, what?” 

“I want to make a bargain,” Misao enunciated carefully, holding up her hands in front of her. “that we can beat you. And if I win, then I get to decide what to do with you.” 

“And if I win?” 

“Well, I mean, that’s where the whole “killing me” thing would come in, I assume.” 

With a snort, Soujiro said, “This is meaningless; Shishio-sama is going to win and…” 

“I bet that he won’t.” Misao replied firmly. “We will beat you, and we will beat him.” She felt like she was walking on a tightrope, her words setting conditions that would be binding. 

Aoshi, his expression revealing none of his thoughts, said, “One opponent at a time?” 

Soujiro looked between the two of them and finally nodded. “You do realize that she has to stay here? Because if I win, she dies. No waiting for….” 

“Oh, for the love of…” Saitoh’s voice broke in. Even Soujiro startled slightly. “Shinomori, what are you doing?” 

“Uhh… I made a bargain with Soujiro that we can beat him, and beat Shishio, and then I get to decide what to do with him.” Misao answered. 

Saitoh’s expression managed to balance between impressed, unsurprised, and annoyed. 

Turning to Soujiro, he asked, “And have you accepted this bargain?” 

The boy nodded, his eyes never leaving Saitoh’s face. 

Saitoh’s expression shifted into something much more wolf-like as he said, “Very well. But, since Himura needs Shinomori, your opponent will be me.” 

Aoshi blinked, then looked at Misao. She managed a small smile, and said, “It’s okay- I need to be over here anyway.” 

With a nod to her, and another, brusquer nod to Saitoh, Aoshi withdrew, heading back across the warehouse, past the platform where Hoji was still focused on chanting. A few remaining Owls attempted to get in his way, but he cut them down. And if his methods were a little more direct, a little more brutal than necessary, Misao supposed she couldn’t blame him. 

“Well,” she said, finding a place to lean against the wall, making sure that the top of her bag was accessible. “I’ll just be… here, then, I guess.” 

The two opponents, who had barely spared a glance for her once Aoshi had left, didn’t acknowledge what she had said. 

There was an infinitesimal pause, and then Saitoh dropped into a crouch, pulling his sword back. Before he could charge, Soujiro leapt forward, too fast for Misao to see. The two men clashed back and forth, their blades flashing. Saitoh jumped back briefly, ducking as Soujiro sprang at him from halfway up the wall. Lunging forward from his standing position, the taller man counter-attacked. 

Soujiro moved smoothly out of the way, vanishing only to appear behind Saitoh. Misao gasped, but Saitoh brought his blade up to block the strike, then spun, switching hands, and retaliating. From there, the fight moved into another flurry of strikes and counter-strikes, too fast for Misao to follow. There was no conversation; only the noise of the blades clashing, and the occasional step as one of the fighters braced for a block or prepared to change direction. 

Neither of the two had managed to inflict a serious wound, but Misao could see where both of them were bleeding from minor cuts. 

Saitoh’s strikes had more power behind them, but Soujiro was faster, she thought, even though one of his legs had clearly been injured. And that speed was clearly giving him an advantage, allowing him to make acrobatic moves and approach the fight from angles that Saitoh couldn’t match. 

She winced as Saitoh was knocked back, bleeding heavily from his shoulder. Grimly, he switched hands and prepared to charge forward, ignoring his injuries. Soujiro’s expression turned mocking as he blurred into motion, his footsteps echoing up the wall all the way to… 

Misao paused, a split-second thought occurring to her. As the footsteps continued over her head, she moved forward, standing in front of Saitoh before he could charge. 

“I’m tagging in!” she yelled, hoping that she was right about what Soujiro was trying to do. 

Before Saitoh could respond, Soujiro blurred back into view on the catwalk above them, clearly planning a final kill strike using speed and height. 

Unfortunately for him, he had neglected to take the rotted state of the catwalk itself into account. He fell in a shower of fragments of wood and twisted metal, his expression one of shock. 

Misao barely had time to shout, “Stay put!” at Saitoh as she ran forward to where Soujiro had ended up, his injured leg looking as if it had taken the brunt of the landing. As both men stared at her, she pulled her weapon out of her bag and swung, connecting with Soujiro’s temple. 

He went down with a thud, and she let out a breath. As she dropped to her knees beside him, she heard Saitoh coming up beside her. 

“Is that… is that a frying pan?” he demanded, sounding vaguely offended. 

“One hundred percent cast iron” Misao affirmed proudly, putting it down next to her as she rummaged through her bag. “I figured that the “iron” part couldn’t hurt, you know? Plus, this was the most solid thing I could find.” 

“Ah.” 

“Just to check- if Soujiro agreed to my bargain, that’s binding, right? We beat him, and now if we beat Shishio, he has to do what I say, right?” 

“That is how it works, yes. A bet is like a promise, and promises… well. Demons can be bound.” 

“Great!” Misao said, sounding and feeling a good deal more chipper. Of course, she reasoned, taking the handcuffs out of her bag, that was no reason not to be cautious. Knocked out should count as “beaten,” but “knocked out and bound” would be even harder to argue about. 

“Ms Makimachi, is that… leopard print?” 

She shrugged. Like many others before him, Hajime Saitoh made the strategic decision that he just didn’t want to know, and proceeded to change the subject. 

“I am assuming that, when you made your… bet… with Soujiro, that you had an actual plan about what you’d do with him if you won?” 

“Funny that you should say that,” Misao said, sounding more chipper than she had any right to be as she pulled out a roll of bandages and some disinfectant and handed them to him. “How do you think your wife would feel about having another teenager in the house?” 

“Ms. Makimachi,” Saitoh practically growled. 

“What? You’ve got experience raising sons, you’ve got experience with teenagers specifically, and, uh, no offense to Kenshin, or even to Aoshi, but I’m kind of betting that there are, err, elements of your philosophy that are going to be a _lot_ better for somebody with Soujiro’s background.” 

“Fine. But only if Tokio agrees. And, Ms Makimachi, _you_ will owe me a favor after this.” 

“I am okay with that!” Holding out her hand, she said, “Shake on it?” 

Saitoh’s expression said that he had half-expected her to spit in her palm first- which made her almost wished that she had. Finally, reluctantly, he reached out and met her halfway, shaking to seal their bargain. 

Looking up to the corner, where she could almost make out where Megumi was, and across to the glowing platform, where Hoji was still chanting, Misao took a deep breath. 

Even though she knew that they’d accomplished a lot, she still knew that the hardest part was yet to come. 

After all, Shishio had to come back before he could be defeated.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author’s note: The 1872 Maria Luz incident centered around the Meiji government’s involvement in a court case about indentured servitude and Peruvian mistreatment of Chinese laborers on board a ship that had pulled into Yokohama for repairs ; there’s a lot going on with the case and the ways that early Meiji-era Japan was trying to establish itself internationally, but the relevant bit for Yumi in canon is that part of the Japanese government’s argument was that women involved in the sex trade/entertainment industry didn’t really count as “people” and thus the way that they were treated in Japan couldn’t be compared to the treatment of indentured Chinese servants (which meant that the Meiji government could try the case and free the Chinese laborers, rather than having to leave them alone because they were in the same position as a bunch of people in Japan).
> 
> In this chapter I do not own: Rapunzel’s frying pan from Tangled, the general fact that I seem to have given Misao a bag of holding, and, um, that scene in the first episode of the RK anime where Kenshin leaps up to get out of the way of Kaoru’s attack and manages to end up on a roof that promptly gives way. Or the fact that, canonically, Saitoh has shown a tendency to adopt lost, orphaned teens and drag them home to Tokio (who he has definitely decided needs to never, ever be introduced to Misao....).


	48. From the Heart of Hell

As he moved across the warehouse floor, stepping carefully around the bodies of the Owls, Aoshi could hear the fight behind him.

He forced himself not to pay attention; after all, he had said that only one opponent would be fighting Soujiro at a time. And he knew that the main event was ahead of them, where Hoji was still chanting.

As he reached Kenshin, he asked, “Where are the Kamiyas?”

“Now that the Owls have been dispatched, I’ve asked them to wait by the, err, bulldozer.”

Both of the two men had been avoiding asking why there was a bulldozer driven into the wall of the warehouse. Or why the front of the building had been on fire when they got there.

“How is the fire, by the way?” Kenshin asked.

“It will hold until we need it,” Aoshi replied. “I think that Saitoh was right; it will be useful later. Until then, Hannya can keep it under control. Oh, look, I think he’s finishing up.”

Kenshin wasn’t sure he could have managed Aoshi’s tone of vague disinterest when referring to Hoji’s imminent completion of the ritual that would bring Makoto Shishio back to this plane of existence.

The volume of the chanting, and the vehemence of Hoji’s gestures, reached a crescendo, then stopped.

Turning to face Kenshin and Aoshi, Hoji smirked triumphantly. “You’re too late, you fools!”

“We really aren’t,” Kenshin muttered under his breath.

“Nothing can stop my master from returning to claim his rightful domination over this pathetic, useless world! And when he returns, he will know that I have been his faithful servant; yes, he will reward me above all the rest of the crawling, spineless followers who weren’t worthy to abase themselves before his glorious strength!”

Aoshi could have almost sworn that he heard Misao’s voice murmuring, ‘Soooooooooooooooooo much to unpack…’

Next to him, Kenshin said softly, “I don’t know what kind of weapons he’s carrying, but remember; you have to take him out- and he’s got additional healing, so you’re going to have to be careful.”

Still keeping his eyes on the ranting maniac in the plaid suit, Aoshi managed a curt nod.

“Behold! Shishio-sama! The true meaning of loyalty! Witness the definition of sacrifice to your greatness!”

With a glad cry, Hoji pulled a glowing green medallion out from underneath his shirt. As he crushed it in his hands, the effect was almost instant. The barrier around the platform shuddered and died.

“Did he just….” Kenshin started to ask, shocked.

As the two men watched, Hoji started to age, the bond that had kept him alive over the decades destroyed.

“He’s made himself mortal again,” Aoshi said, incredulous. “Why on earth….”

Before Aoshi could finish his question, Hoji staggered towards the center of the platform. Raising a dagger high, he plunged it into his own heart, his blood pouring into the bowl of ashes as he collapsed before the altar. Swirls of black immediately began to pour out, gathering and thickening around the Mugenjin.

A wind rose on the platform, gathering strength as it spun, twisting out from the altar to encompass the entire room. Everybody ducked, protecting themselves from the flying debris.

Then, as suddenly as it had begun, it stopped. In the echoing silence, faint laughter began, emerging from the inky-black cloud covering the altar. As the laughter increased in volume, a figure began to coalesce out of the blackness, holding the glowing blade.

After over a hundred years, Makoto Shishio stepped forth into the world once more.

* * *

Ducking back to her position next to the bulldozer, Kaoru said, “Well, it looks like the resurrection worked….”

“Yeah, thanks; the evil maniacal laughter was kind of a big clue there. So, can I drive the bulldozer through the wall now?”

“Nice try, Yahiko; Sano is still the one in charge of the bulldozer.”

“Eh, sure, why not; you’re practically old enough to drive.”

“Sanosuke!”

“Woo-hoo! No takebacks!”

Letting out a deep breath, Kaoru said, “Fine, but only once Sano says so- and you go straight forward, at a reasonable speed. And Sano is in the cab with you.”

“Awesome!”

“Don’t get too excited yet,” Sano cautioned, peering over the cab. “We have to wait for the right moment. Just rushing in without thinking about it would be really… why are you both looking at me like that?”

“No reason,” the siblings answered in unison.

Scowling at them, Sano said, “Yeah, whatever. Just… I’ll give a signal when it’s time, okay?”

“Wanna bet that the signal is going to be a loud, panicked scream?” Yahiko whispered to his sister.

“I am not taking that bet.”

* * *

“Did…. did suit guy just Dorian Grey himself?”

“What?”

“Umm… never mind. Should you be over there?” Misao asked, curious.

“I’m exactly where I need to be,” Saitoh answered, examining the symbols that had been painted on the walls. Misao had been avoiding looking at them too closely. Every time she tried, they started… oozing…. and reforming into even more disturbing patterns.

“Okay, then. Pretzel?”

Saitoh turned from his examination and blinked at the bag she was holding out to him. Taking a pretzel, he said, “Thank you,” before he turned back to keep examining the wall.

* * *

Kenshin braced himself as Makoto Shishio strode forward, the Mugenjin held tight in his grasp.

His grin was sharp and terrible in the midst of his bandaged face.

“A century in Hell hasn’t improved your appearance, Shishio.”

“And a century wandering this world hasn’t improved your attitude,” the resurrected demon replied smoothly as he reached the edge of the platform.

“I have to say,” he continued smoothly, “I was half-expecting you to try to steal the sword back, or take out my lackeys before they could bring me back… but that’s not your style, is it? Not when you could set yourself up for one last duel and… what? Stake everything on your sword, on your foolish philosophy?”

Refusing to be baited, Kenshin replied, “Destroying you is a worthwhile goal, even if it means that I have to listen to more of your ranting.”

Shishio snorted. “I could say the same.”

Pacing along the edge of the platform, his eyes glittering, he said, “I see that you and your compatriots have managed to destroy my poor Owls; such a pity. How fortunate that there are so many souls in Hell just waiting for a chance to come back…”

As he spoke, he raised his sword and pulled the blade across one palm. Fluid welled up, and he flung it outwards, droplets scattering across the painted symbols across the platform and floor.

Immediately, they started to shiver and glow red, the blood reacting with what was already there, spreading outwards in a rapid reaction, reaching across the floor and up to the wall. Mystical symbols started to pulse scarlet, reaching out tendrils that stretched towards the bodies, and there was a growing noise, like something with far too many feet approaching.

As more black smoke started to curl up from the red lines, Shishio threw his head back and laughed.

“You see, Himura? The strong will always….”

His speech was interrupted with the noise of breaking glass as bottles shattered onto the designs painted on the floor around the platform. The substance in them started to spread, bubbling and hissing, erasing the patterns and breaking the pathway that reached beyond the floor.

“What?”

And Kenshin charged forward.

* * *

Up above, Megumi ducked, then scuttled forward carefully before throwing the next bottle.

Bleach and stain remover were one thing, she thought, but there was nothing like a hospital supply closet if you needed something that would absolutely, definitely, get rid of bloodstains.

Meanwhile, in the corner near where Soujiro was still out cold, Misao grimaced and fired her super-soaker at the patterns on the floor and wall near her, trying to ignore the faint shrieks that she could hear anytime the liquid connected.

She was also trying very hard not to look at where Saitoh was calmly, methodically decapitating all of the Owls as they lay on the floor.

* * *

With a roar, Shishio leapt forward to meet Kenshin, their swords clashing. The force of their blades impacting sent a shockwave that disturbed the platform, fracturing one of the pillars holding it up.

Quicker than thought, the two combatants moved away, Shishio driving Kenshin backwards onto the floor of the warehouse. Countering, Kenshin leapt up into the air and drove his sword down towards Shishio, who maneuvered out of the way just in time. The blade hit the floor instead, sending pieces flying. One of them grazed Shishio’s cheek, leaving a long streak of red against the torn edges of his wrappings and exposing the way his jaw was more tendon and teeth than flesh.

“Not bad, Battousai; I was afraid you would have gotten rusty in all this time.”

“Rotting in Hell doesn’t seem to have diminished your skills, either.”

“Hardly rotting,” Shishio mocked, slashing forward again. “Even in Hell, it’s the strong who thrive.”

Kenshin blocked his swing and spun around to the side. The Mugenjin flashed forward and caught him along the ribs, and he grimaced.

Shishio brought his blade up and ostentatiously eyed Kenshin’s blood before bringing it up to his mouth.

Kenshin was fairly sure that he wasn’t imagining multiple voices saying, “Ewwww…..” from various areas around the warehouse, but he didn’t call attention to it.

Sheathing his sword and settling into the posture for battou-jutsu, Kenshin made his move before his opponent could finish licking off the blade.

* * *

While Kenshin was keeping Shishio occupied, Aoshi carefully made his way across the platform to Hoji’s desiccated corpse. Rapid aging was not a pleasant way to die, yet the man’s expression- as near as he could tell- was triumphant. He would have even called it vindictive, if that didn’t seem overly imaginative.

The broken medallion, wisps of acid-green smoke still curling up from it, lay on the floor. Pulling out a handkerchief, Aoshi collected the pieces carefully, dropping them into a bag with carefully-embroidered symbols on it and cinching the top closed before putting it into one of his coat pockets.

Just because a piece of enchantment was a horrible perversion of both magic and biology didn’t mean it wasn’t worth studying. If nothing else, it would mean that they could learn the signs of somebody who had had their youth magically extended- a bargain that they were all sure would appear again.

Then he went to the corpse itself, looking at it thoughtfully. Hoji was really most sincerely dead, but he was too familiar with the various post-death options to assume that it was over.

For one thing, there was no way that somebody like Hoji would have dared to end a bond with somebody like Shishio and then kill himself without permission.

Taking a deep breath, Aoshi called on his other senses. Sure enough, there was a faint trail from the corpse, a path that a soul could follow back to this body- or, depending on the spell, to another, fresher one. He wasn’t sure which option Hoji would pick; returning to immortality in the body he’d inhabited for so long, or taking a new life.

Actually, he was sure which option Hoji would pick- whichever option Shishio told him to.

Pulling out his kodachi, Aoshi muttered an incantation under his breath before slashing the trail into vaporous fragments that soon dissolved, leaving behind nothing but a faint, distressed noise. After considering the corpse for a moment, he beheaded it. In a case like this, it was better to be as thorough as possible.

* * *

If he had still been mortal, Shishio’s arm would have been off. As it was, it took a moment for black tendrils reaching out from the remains of his shoulder to reattach it after Kenshin’s blow, and the second half of Kenshin’s signature move clearly shattered some ribs.

Shishio slashed and stabbed, Kenshin brought up his blade and blocked the attack, then had to leap backwards when Shishio tried to tear at his shoulder using his teeth.

“Hardly a sign of strength when you’re reduced to biting,” Kenshin commented.

The failure of his plan to resurrect the Owls seemed to have thrown Shishio off-balance, and Kenshin was hoping that his taunts would enrage the demon further. Rage, he knew, led to mistakes.

Shishio howled in fury, his expression terrible. Black ichor was oozing out between the bandages wrapped around his torso, tendrils reaching and reacting to his anger.  


“You fool!” he hissed, his jaw oozing more blackness “You honestly think that you can destroy me? Me, who has had a hundred years to learn more dark magic than you and your pathetic master can even dream of? Me, who fought his way to the top of…”

Shishio’s speech was drowned out by the loud, sustained noise of a bulldozer horn as the giant machine accelerated towards him, turning towards the outer wall of the warehouse.

Kenshin was sure that the expression on his nemesis’ face as he had to leap out of the way was going to stay in his mind for a very long time.

Recovering his composure, Shishio turned towards the machine with a terrible light in his eyes. “Your mortal friends, Himura? Weak, pathetic creatures, who will die while you watch- and their corpses will provide material for my new army, once I’ve killed you!” Drawing back his blade, he prepared to charge, to destroy both the machine and those inside it with the power of his blade and all the power of Hell behind it.

Kenshin fought to remain calm, reminding himself yet again that rage led to mistakes. Reaching deep within, he summoned every reserve of speed and strength that he had.

As he moved, he remembered everything he’d learned, everything he’d fought for- everyone he’d fought for- over his lifetime.

His blade flashed out as he roared Shishio’s name, slicing across the back of his neck. As Shishio fell, the Mugenjin clattered to the ground.

Black tendrils spread out from Shishio’s hand, but before they could reach the sword, there was a loud clanging noise.

“Big hammer!” said Kaoru cheerfully, as she swung again. Kenshin blinked, momentarily brought up short.

Shishio made a ghastly noise and reached out again.

Sano, who had come up next to Kaoru, brought his own hammer down as she finished her blow.

The last thing that Makoto Shishio saw before Kenshin’s sword finished slicing clean through his neck was the Mugenjin shuddering and cracking under their joint onslaught.

With an agonizing howl, his corpse began to dissolve, black smoke swirling upwards towards the roof, looking for an escape out into the night.

“Aoshi!” Kenshin yelled.

Aoshi threw something that looked like a glittering, barbed net, catching the smoke and pulling it back down. Then, with a twist, he pulled the net inwards. The black smoke writhed and bubbled, but the net held firm, mercilessly crushing it until all that was left was a glowing ball of light. Releasing it, Aoshi let it float upwards and dissolve into faint sparkles, which faded even as everybody watched.

Looking down at the remains of Shishio’s sword, Saitoh remarked, “We need to make sure these pieces are destroyed as well.”

Kenshin sheathed his sword and, before Sano could make any more creative suggestions, said, “Aoshi, can you pack them up?”

“Of course.”

“What about the, um..” Misao gestured around at the assorted corpses, the destruction, the smoking remains of what had been mystic runes…

“Once we’re gone, I’ll release the fire from the front of the building, and make sure that it eliminates any trace of this.”

“Oh, is that why everything isn’t on fire already,” Yahiko sounded a little dazed, which Kaoru didn’t think he could be blamed for. It wasn’t every day that you got to drive a bulldozer through a wall while realizing that a powerful demon was chasing after you. Especially since, after a whispered conversation, Sano and Kaoru had agreed to let Yahiko charge forward on his own while they waited with the hammers.

“Katsu’s gonna be pissed that you screwed up his bombs.”

“They’re bombs, Sano, they were supposed to explode.”

“Not all at once! That was a waste of good craftsmanship!”

Before Kaoru could give in to the temptation to respond, Megumi put her hand on Sano’s shoulder and said, “Katsu will only be sorry that he didn’t get to see the explosion.” Her face was slightly pale, but she was otherwise unhurt.

“Um, Megumi, did you…” Kaoru asked.

She nodded briefly, a faint smile on her mouth. “I think… I think that it worked.”

Kaoru and Misao shared identical expressions of relief.

“That’s great, Megumi!” Misao said. Noticing the others’ faint puzzlement, she said, “We’ll explain later.”

“Kenshin,” Kaoru asked, with some concern, “are you alright?”

He smiled. “Yes, Kaoru. We’re all alright.”

“I say we light this place up and go get a drink!” Sano broke in. “Katsu promised he’d keep the bar open and the lights on. Who else is in?”

“Katsu can wait to hear how it went until we’ve all had showers and a good night’s sleep,” Megumi retorted. For a moment, Sano looked like he might protest, but then he registered just how tired everybody was.

With a sigh, he acquiesced. “Yeah, you’re right. Probably better to wait until tomorrow anyway. And I gotta get this bulldozer back to the yard.” Addressing Kenshin, he asked, “You need anything else?”

“No, thank you for asking.”

“Right- see you all tomorrow, then!” With a cheerful wave, he sauntered towards the hole that the bulldozer had made in the wall during its second charge.

“How is he so cheerful about this,” Yahiko groused, swaying slightly on his feet as the adrenaline rush faded.

“Years of very disreputable practice,” Megumi murmured.

Kaoru was torn between making sure her brother got home safely and wanting to stay close to Kenshin, took a deep, cleansing breath.

‘You need to get Yahiko home,’ she reminded herself. ‘Besides which, there’s nothing else for you to do here- and there’s probably plenty for Kenshin to do.’

“Come on, Yahiko,” she said, “Let’s go home. I’m sure that everybody has things to do. Aoshi has to set fires, and Kenshin probably has to do clean-up and make some kind of report, and, err….”

Saitoh rolled his eyes. “Apparently, I have to talk to my wife about adoption.” Everybody except for Misao blinked in shock. Misao, grinning, just waved at him cheerfully and said, 

“I’m sure she’ll say yes! And, um, if she doesn’t, I have a bunch of arguments that I’m happy to…”

“No!” Saitoh said, possibly too emphatically. “I am sure that your meeting Tokio will not be necessary. Now or at any point in the future.”

And if he was moving a little faster than normal as he went to fetch Soujiro from the back of the warehouse, nobody felt the need to comment on it.

Megumi stretched. “Okay, Misao, let’s head back to the car.”

Misao looked momentarily at Aoshi, then gave a self-deprecating smile. “Right. I should head out, because, um, not much use in the “magically controlling fire” department. But…” she threw her arms around him and kissed him passionately, uncaring of their audience. “I will see you tomorrow, right?”

“Of course,” Aoshi said, before kissing her right back.

“Okay.”

After Megumi and Misao had gone, Aoshi turned to Kenshin.

“Is there anything else that you require out of this building before I let the fires go?”

“No; I have everything that I need.”

Kaoru felt a faint blush as she realized that Kenshin was looking at her, rather than at the rest of the warehouse.

‘Stop that; you could be imagining it.’

Then, when Kenshin put his arm around her to lead her and Yahiko out of the warehouse, pulling her close, she thought, ‘Or maybe not.’

Once the three of them had reached her car, well away from where they could start to see the fires spreading, Kaoru helped her brother into the passenger seat. The minute he sat down and got his seatbelt on, she could see him slumping down with exhaustion.

Turning to Kenshin, she managed a tremulous grin. “We did it,” she said. “We actually won.”

His answering smile was soft, and his arms were around her in an instant. She relaxed into his embrace and put her arms around him in return.

“I do have to go report about this.”

“Of course. And Yahiko and I have to get back to the dojo, and get some sleep… and Megumi was not wrong about getting cleaned up, wow I am just realizing how badly I smell, I’m so sorry….”

Kenshin’s laughter reverberated through their embrace “You smell just fine, kitten.”

He pulled her in for a kiss, but kept it brief. She wondered if he was more concerned about her state of exhaustion, how late it was, or the odds that every phone in the tri-state area would spontaneously start ringing.

“Much as I would love to come over after my report, it will be…”

“Come over,” Kaoru said, blushing slightly. “I don’t care how late it is.”

Kenshin smiled and said, “Okay. I’ll see you soon, Kaoru.”

“I’ll see you soon, Kenshin.”

* * *

Later- but not that much later- after Yahiko had showered, and headed off to bed, where he had immediately started snoring, and after Kaoru had scrubbed down, washed her hair, and settled down with a book- there was a soft knock on the door.

Kaoru wrapped her robe around herself and went to answer it. Kenshin looked at her, one side of his mouth kicking up in a smile.

“May I come in, kitten?”

“Always,” she said, smiling as she pulled him into a kiss and into the house, letting the door close behind them as the future opened up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author’s Note: WOOT GRAND FINALE! (just the epilogue left)


	49. One Wedding (and no funerals)

It was a beautiful Spring day, and the bride looked perfect.

The flowers looked perfect.

The reception also looked perfect.

The groom looked… well, like Sano, but even Misao had had to admit that he had cleaned up surprisingly… thoroughly.

“So, how much of this do you think is making up for the fact that when he proposed she looked like a particularly grubby street urchin?” Misao whispered to Kaoru as they listened to Katsu’s toast to the happy couple.

“Oh, please; you know that Megumi would have done all of this anyway.”

“Including the doves?”

“ _Especially_ the doves. Besides which, her obsessing over the ceremony meant that she put Sano in charge of the food, and I have no complaints about that.”

Looking over to where Yahiko was loading up at the buffet for the third time, two plates balanced precariously on one arm, Kaoru had to agree. As he brought the food back to where he was sitting with their father and triumphantly set one plate down in front of him, she smiled.

Their father had woken up all the way the week after what Misao insisted on calling “the final showdown!!!,” exclamation points included, and was making excellent progress with physical therapy.

Kaoru was pretty sure that he was getting some supernatural help, but she wasn’t going to complain. At the moment, he was supervising classes and letting one of the advanced students do physical demonstrations, but he was hoping to be back to full-time teaching by the time summer rolled around and schools let out.

She and Yahiko had had a serious conversation with their father over the holidays, and he’d told them that he was probably not going to compete in tournaments for the future- although he’d framed it as a dramatic request for the “next generation!!!,” exclamation points _definitely_ included, to step up their game and keep the Kamiya Kasshin style alive.

Now that the school year was going to be winding down, she expected that there would be a fairly tournament-heavy summer for both herself and Yahiko. Luckily, she thought, her job in the upcoming year was going to be back at the same school.

Well, she amended, luckily for her. Yahiko still hadn’t stopped grumbling about it.

Around February, Mr. Fujita had suddenly announced that he was going to be retiring. At least, one story said “retiring.” Another story said that he had taken a job at a swanky private school somewhere further north, and was going to be making twice as much money as he was now.

There was a third story that said the CIA had finally called their deep operative back to headquarters because they needed his incredible skills in stealth assassination, and if Kaoru ever actually confirmed that Sano had started that one, he was going to be in a world of trouble.

As Katsu finished his surprisingly unembarrassing best man toast, Kaoru and Misao clapped politely. 

“How much do you think Sano bribed him not to tell the story about the stripper and the hydrangea bush?”

“Better question: what do you think Megumi threatened him with?”

“There is no way Sano has ever told Megumi that story.”

“Why do you think they broke up for two hours that one time?”

“… I thought that was because of the bathtub gin experiment.”

“No, that was the other time.”

“Huh.”

“Ladies, you both look lovely.”

Kaoru turned around to see Kenshin and Aoshi standing there, both looking amazing in their tuxedos. Misao leapt out of her chair with an excited squeal and threw her arms around her boyfriend. Kaoru managed not to leap up, but did lean in as Kenshin kissed her.

She grinned at him and said, “Megumi actually put a lot of effort into making sure that we had non-hideous dresses. It was impressive; it was like watching somebody go against a fundamental truth of the universe.”

“Well, if anyone is able to do it, it would be her,” Kenshin said, grinning.

“I know! That’s why, when I get married, I’m going to put her in charge of.... I mean.. if… I mean… err… oh, look, they’ve brought out more shrimp!”

Blushing a deep red, Kaoru fled around the tables towards the buffet. As she picked up a plate, she felt Kenshin’s finger trailing down the nape of her neck and all the way past the rows of tiny buttons on the back of her dress, and she could hear the laughter in his voice.

“‘If,’ huh?”

“Kenshin Himura, I will murder you with this shrimp and Megumi will help me hide the body.”

“By which point I will have woken back up, kitten, and Megumi will be more than willing to give us plenty of privacy to… discuss things.”

Kaoru hadn’t thought she could get any redder. Apparently, she had been wrong.

“Once you’ve finished your depredation of the cocktail shrimp, would you care to dance?”

“For your information, I am fetching these because Yahiko forgot to get any for our dad,” she said, holding her head up high and hoping that Kenshin would miss the large pile of shrimp shells on the table between her relatives. “And, yes, after I have dropped them off, like a thoughtful daughter, I would love to dance.”

Fortunately, between the two of them, Yahiko and their father could tackle the shrimp.

Misao and Aoshi were already on the dance floor, and Kaoru could tell that her friend’s insistence on some dance lessons had paid off. She’d managed to convince Aoshi that human men all knew how to ballroom dance, and that if he showed up at the wedding and stood out on the dance floor, it would look weird and conspicuous.

“I’m glad that they’re happy,” she remarked as Kenshin led her out on the dance floor.

Kenshin followed her gaze and said, “I’m glad, too- Aoshi was very alone for a very long time.”

He paused, and Kaoru asked, “And… how about you?”

Looking down at her, he said, “I was also… very alone, for a very long time. I didn’t think that I would ever find anybody like you.”

“Somebody who stabbed you and then set the building on fire?”

“Well, that was one part of it, yes.” He grinned as he twirled her around and dipped her as the music came to an end, replaced by something much more energetic that had them moving off to the side and strolling along a lantern-lit pathway that Megumi had set up between the seating areas.

“But it was also just _you_ and your spark. I like to think that I would have found you again even without….”

“The murder and the demons and having to stop the end of the world?”

“Exactly. Binding myself to you was one of the best decisions that I ever made, Kaoru.”

“Yeah, I… haaaaang on,” Kaoru said, stopping and looking at Kenshin, whose expression had gone from fond to slightly panicked. “What the heck do you mean, binding?”

“Ah… well…”

“Kenshin, _what did you do?_ ”

“Technically, you agreed to it,” he said, then held up his hands when her response was an absolutely murderous expression. “I needed to protect you,” Kenshin blurted out. “After the incident with Gohei, when I was healing you, the best way to do that was to give you some of my energy, and it also meant that you had more protection than I could have given you before.”

“I am very, _very_ sure that you did _not_ spell out the condition of us being _bound together_ , and… and… I’m not saying that I would have said no, technically, if you’d told me that it was about protection, that was a good time to be protected, but you didn’t actually say that we were… what does that even mean, anyway?”

Kenshin’s expression turned smug, and he pulled her close, whispering in her ear, “Well, let’s just say that, technically, Megumi was the _second_ person in our group to get married. From a certain point of view.”

Kaoru seemed to have lost the power of speech- which was a good thing, as Megumi and Sano came up.

“Kenshin! Great to see you! How’s it going? Everything, uh, staying pretty quiet?”

“Yes, Sano- things are very peaceful. Megumi, you look radiant; I was just telling Kaoru that when we get married, we need to get the names of the people that you hired.”

Kaoru let out an undignified squeaking noise.

“Reaaaaallly,” said Megumi, whose happiness on her wedding day was not even slightly diminished by hearing that her cousin’s own wedding might be happening in the not-to-distant future, especially when it meant that she would be in on the planning.

“Megumi! Sano! Kaoru! Kenshin! This is the best wedding ever; I’m so happy to see all of you; I think that the espresso groom’s cake was an _amazing idea_ , Sano; I’ve had, like, four pieces….”

“Five,” Aoshi corrected, looking only mildly concerned.

“You know, Kaoru, Misao helped out with the planning, too- I’m sure that she’ll be happy to help with your wedding. You know. When it happens.”

“Kaoru!!!!!” Misao shrieked, then put her hands over her mouth and said, “Sorry; sorry, just... um… that was very strong cake.” Looking back and forth between Kenshin and Kaoru, she grinned. “So, um, is this an _official_ upcoming wedding?”

“No!” Kaoru said, her tone slightly panicked. “We’re not married! I mean, we’re not getting married! I mean…” Taking a moment, she rallied, and started again, in what she hoped was a dignified tone. “ _If_ Kenshin and I were to be getting married, then I am _positive_ that the first step would be for him to _actually propose_ , because obviously he would want to do things _right_ and not, say, jump ten steps ahead _without asking_.”

Of course, even all the dignity in the world couldn’t stop her friends from grinning at her like a pair of cats who’d gotten an entire flock of canaries.

Kenshin put his arm around her, his expression equally smug and cheerfully predatory. “Oh, of course,” he agreed, sounding entirely solemn. “I will make a note of that. For future reference. I do so want to be sure that things are done properly.”

Kaoru had a sudden sense of doom, but before she could do or say anything about it, Misao said, “Hey, you know what? We should get a picture! All of us, and Yahiko, and, heck, even Katsu! You know, to remember.”

Sano nodded, “How about over by the steps? You go get Yahiko, and we’ll get Katsu.”

Chattering excitedly, her friends all headed off, ready to document this special occasion- and to remember all they’d overcome.

Turning back to Kenshin, Kaoru tried to manage a glare. It was hard to do it, when he was looking at her with such obvious adoration in his eyes.

Adoration, and a hint of mischief.

“I will try to do things properly,” he said, and she, half-reluctantly, found herself matching his fond expression.

Then, leaning in towards her, he continued, “And very, _very_ thoroughly.”

As he pulled her into a passionate embrace, Kaoru felt the warmth of his lips against hers, his arms around her, and the overwhelming feeling of being loved, whatever their future together might hold.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's note: I mean, there was ALMOST a funeral for a minute there...
> 
> Additional note: Thank you so much for reading- particularly everybody who was familiar with the story from FFN (where I do intend to cross-post as soon as I can). It was a very long road, but I am happy to have managed to bring everything to a successful conclusion.

**Author's Note:**

> Author’s Note: Blamed on caffeine, and dedicated to Rach, Ravyn, and Joanna (Or possibly vice versa....).
> 
> Other notes: AU, which means that OOCness will jump up and down and wave its arms on occasion (although I’m trying to keep it minimal). Also, there are going to be spoilers, in the sense of riffs on or references to things in the anime and manga.
> 
> AND A MORE IMPORTANT NOTE: Originally posted on FFN under the author's older name of "JaneDrew," then completed and posted here (hopefully to also be posted on FFN at some point as well).


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